“Taking in the Good”

A powerful tool for embracing everyday moments that are pleasant and good, “taking in the good” is a way to rewire the mind and cultivate feelings of happiness, contentment and peace.

This mindfulness-based practice is taken from Rick Hanson’s book Hardwiring Happiness and is something that we can weave into our everyday to start to engage more fully with life and use the tiny moments to create change.

I invite you to take a moment right now, whatever you might be doing, and engage your senses to take in your environment.

Allow your senses to roam...

What do you see? What aromas can you smell? What sounds can you hear?

What sensations can you feel against your skin?

Is there something in your environment that is pleasing to your eye or brings a smile to your face?

Give your awareness time to land on something and pause...

Now, enjoy a few breaths, allowing yourself to feel the pleasantness of the sensations and take in the goodness of the moment.

Just 5 -10 breaths. This is enough to start to rewire the brain to not only look for, but also take in, the positive and the pleasant.

It also sets off a cascade of positive hormones impacting our physiology.

Doing this short mindfulness exercise a few times throughout the day is enough to start to rewire the brain.

We don't have to do anything different, we simply start to pay more attention to the everyday; to the tiny moments when we feel a spark of goodness, pleasantness or gratefulness..

Then we take the time to marinate in the spark so that the good feelings can flood through our system. These moments of mindfulness and connection can slowly begin to increase our internal contentment and satisfaction.

If you found this exercise helpful, let me know! I would love to hear from you.

And if you would like to explore this and other mindfulness practices to see how they can enhance your life, join me for my weekly Mindfulness Meditation class through the Calgary Yoga Collective.