What makes you calm? What becomes your escape from the chaos surrounding you? What brings you happiness when the negativity around you erupts to engulf you? The answer to your “what” is the power of little things that surround you. These little things go unnoticed at times and we run after things that we think will bring us happiness but in the end, provide a menial level of satisfaction.
As young adults working endlessly, we have frequent burnouts which result in our pursuit for things that can give us an escape from exhaustion. It’s like a quidditch game where we look for the snitch that becomes the calm amidst chaos, but the quidditch we play is different as we have a snitch which is a doppelganger of the real calming snitch. You see this doppelganger is the calm that lasts for seconds, we tend to find our calm in materialistic pleasures.
These materialistic pleasures don’t last long and we go back to square one soon. Let me tell you about the oddly satisfying little things that help us with the “sighs of relief” moment. We experience them in our day-to-day lives but we tend to ignore the satisfying calmness that they radiate.
When you change your bedding and put out a new bed sheet, the smell of fresh linen and detergent sends out a tune of calm which is oddly satisfying. I tend to lie down on my freshly laid bed and experience the calm by shutting my eyes for fifteen minutes. Everything feels peaceful at that moment and you wake up with a fresh mind.
You are sitting in a noisy environment and you find your earphones in your bag. While the noise behind you makes you jittery, you plug in your earphones and the song that calms you plays in the background while the subdued noise that was spoiling your peace doesn’t concern you anymore. Everything becomes serene and you can focus on the work in front of you while your mind is transported to a peaceful realm.
Sometimes, our emotions conflict with each other. We can see that perfectly in the movie Inside Out where joy and sadness conflict with each other but in the end when they come together, they create a new core memory which is both happy and sad. To make that special core memory, you need to find your calming channel in the little things that happen in your life. Emotions need to be transmitted through a channel because they are supposed to leave your body. Emotions are meant to be felt and then transferred, therefore find a channel that you can subscribe to in order to transfer the emotions into a vessel for collection. This will help you change your exhaustion into peace. Our body is not designed to hold onto every single emotion. So, we need to learn the art of channelizing our emotions for the calm to sink in. This will make us feel lighter, more productive and peaceful in our approach to various situations.
It can be a simple cup of coffee as the aroma of the coffee can be a calming aphrodisiac. It can be hugging your parents on an anxiety-driven day as the love that they radiate has warmth that you won’t feel anywhere else. That one hug can drive you to your ‘sigh of relief moment.’ Your channel of calm and peace can be a simple smile from someone or a trip away where you will just stop and breathe in, forgetting the chaos you left behind. The chaos you are a part of can wait, it awaits your arrival eagerly. But your mental peace makes an appearance only when you subscribe to your channel of calm and peace. It’ll only make an appearance when you’ll stop and take a break from your chaotic schedule.
We are in an era of hustle where our minds and brain are constantly in motion. The biggest mistake that we make is by not taking a break and when we do we run after things that give us momentary calmness. We forget the tiny things that can bring in the calm we have yearned for. So, if your calming streak lies in talking to someone, reading a book, singing or dancing- do it. Don’t wait for the next big thing, grab the little calming flower that is blooming right in front of you. It will help you amidst the chaos that is ruining your mental peace. The wave of negativity that is drowning you will only pull you down but you need to grab the life jacket that will pull you out from this wave. The life jacket contains the little things that surround you and you just need to reach out for it. The stress lines on your forehead will disappear and the smile that left your face will appear again with your mind at ease.