H.U.G Corner: Thought of the Week 9/25

Quiet Mind: One-Minute Retreats from a Busy World

The most frequent challenge I hear from busy people who want to find peace in their daily lives is that they have goodwill, but they just plain forget to take a few moments for the still point. At the end of the day, they realize they only did one, or two or even none.

What helps me, and many of the people I speak with, is finding triggers. Look for the triggers in your day – moments, people, situations, times, places, events, going, comings – that have these traits in common: (1) they are frequent, (2) they are automatic, (3) they are consistent.

Here is an example: telephones, beepers, clocks or – putting a spin on John Donne’s words – bells that sound in your environment. When you hear them, you can stop, take a breath and remember who you are every time you hear the phone, the clock, the doorbell or a beeper.

Here’s one I do: every time I hear the microwave beeper, a sound I find annoying, I call myself to a momentary breath of relaxation and recollection of how I’ll enjoy whatever is being warmed.

Here are a few tips to establish an event or a sound as a trigger: place sticky notes or other signs on things, put things “out of place” to remind you take a few moments at the beginning of the day and put your still points in your imagination: when I take a bathroom break, I will stay there for one minute longer, close my eyes and notice what I am feeling physically in my body or emotionally.

It takes a while to establish the practice, so don’t get discouraged. Stick with it. If you do, I’ll guarantee you will become good at it and, more important, the quality of your day will leap forward.

Right now, think of two triggers in your day-bells that toll for thee.