A few years back, a close friend of mine was going through some major changes and trauma in her life, and while I believe she coped beautifully, like all of us there were times where she too needed the love and support of others. This is partly what led her to visit a social worker for a chat. The thing I remembered most from what she told me of the conversation where the words, “What’s in the room.” You see, my friend, like most of us, got caught up in the drama; the “he said, she saids” and the, “I don’t know what to do next”. It is normal for most people to get so lost in their heads and try to make sense of things when there is no sense to be made and it is so overwhelming. This feeling of being overwhelmed fries our brain to the point where true logical thought is not even possible. The best thing we can often do is stop thinking and bring ourselves back to the here and now. How do we do that? Well, we notice “what’s in the room”.
This simple yet effective process brings our scattered mind back to where it can do the most good and slows us down. How do we do this???
- Sit in a quiet place, have a big glass of water and just stop.
- Ask yourself, “What can I see?” and begin to notice. I see a table, a chair, a lounge, a window etc, etc.
- Stay there and just allow this slowness to permeate through your entire being. If you mind gets busy again, just once again notice “What’s in the room?”
Practice this simple technique when your hassled and waiting in a queue, when you are driving (simply noticing the road and traffic around will probably make you a better driver), when the kids get too much, when you are at work. Whenever you feeling like you can’t cope or are not in your body ask yourself “What’s in the room?” Give it a go; I think you will be surprised.
From my soul to yours
With love
Chris Shana
