Simplicity, always

That first bite of a perfectly baked croissant.

That first glimpse of sunlight on your face on a winter’s morning.

That initial contact in an embrace from an old friend.

What is it that all of these things have in common?

It may be that they are simple, small acts that can happen without our noticing. But all of them nourish: the soul, the nervous system, you.

There is a modern-day wellness narrative: to live better, be kinder to yourself, do less and feel more. But even these seemingly supportive prompts can be debilitating sometimes, and adding pressure to an already over-stimulated nervous system is the last thing we need.

So with this post, I want to bring back our awareness of the little things. The moments of pleasure that we can gain just by zooming in, focusing our perspective more on what we already have and less on what we could gain. Read my previous post on perspective and peripheral vision here.

Think now, back to this morning… what was one thing no matter how small, that brought you a second of joy. And if you can’t think of anything, don’t panic. Perhaps tomorrow you can set yourself the mini-challenge of noticing one moment of bliss:

• The first sip of coffee to get you going in the morning
• Looking out the window and spotting something that makes you smile
• An old song you’d forgotten that starts playing

Whatever it is, it doesn’t need to be complicated.

Yes of course, in terms of nervous system regulation, it is also brilliant if you can eat well, move your body, get enough sleep etc. but I would argue the benefits of getting it ‘right’ all the time and yet still rushing through life on overdrive will undo all of those.

It is fascinating what you see when you go through life at a slower pace; the mother holding her baby close and pulling its hat a little tighter onto its head, the murmuration of birds flying towards the sunset…

Our nervous systems are designed to notice things that our conscious mind filters out, but that doesn’t mean that its affect is not still felt. Everything that surrounds us has an impact on our experience of the world. Therefore when we allow ourselves to focus more intently on the small details, it can help to still our minds (that of course have a tendency to think of the multitude of things we have yet to do, what we should have done in the past and what we aren’t doing right now) and keeps our perspective more rooted in the present.

Not only that, but in appreciating the little moments, the bigger ones seem even better too. It’s just an overall win-win situation. Writing down things you’ve noticed at the end of the day can also be a nice way to return to this calming perspective.

And it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Keep it simple.

We actually need very little to keep our nervous systems healthy, regulated and calm – it’s when the noise makes us doubt that what we are doing is ‘enough’ that we can start to falter.

So next time you start worrying that you don’t have time to meditate, take that yoga class or batch cook on a Sunday – notice instead the environment around you and maybe that little moment of joy will just simply appear.

All photos by Rosa Sawer