We all know that looking after our bodies can help both our mental experience and our productivity in the world. But it seems to require so much effort and support. We need time and money to get to the gym, change our eating habits, or get enough hours of sleep. Often, the big changes in our physical well-being seem completely out of reach.
Could a smaller change make a difference? Have you ever been in a conversation that changed in a moment? Or found an opportunity you didn’t think existed only a day before? Maybe someone gave you a hug and you found you could cope after all.
Sustained change can be great and important, but sometimes we just need to see the present a little bit differently. And that can happen, on time and on purpose, when we make small alterations in our physiology and allow those changes to change what we notice and feel.
The next time you don’t like an emotion, start with the change that feels most possible. Change your posture (whether sitting or standing). Pick up a rhythm from a piece of music or the traffic outside. Don’t fight with your breath: notice it. And then expand it to create a bubble around you, and then around the things and people that matter to you.
Each tiny change tells you that you are safe and you can move and there is space around you for what matters. The story you are telling yourself will change with your body. And that makes a difference.
