Let it snow, let it snow...

It's funny how people can interpret an event or occurrence completely differently, let us take the recent snowfall for example.

We have all experienced the blanketing of our neighbourhoods in the white stuff of late, changing the familiar look and feel of our local area.

I talked to a couple of people yesterday about the snowfall.

One a Mother who recounted how she and her daughter had snuggled up to listen to the radio together, she smiled as she told me of her daughters eyes filled with the excitement of possibly having an extra day off School. The other a businessman who told me of his worries about the problems at work, due to delivery problems and staffing shortages. Two completely different experiences.

I personally I find it very refreshing to look at the brightness of my environment, inhale the freshness of the air and hear and feel the crunch of the snow beneath my feet. Sure, it has impacted on a couple of clients being unable to make their appointments, but I always find snow has an innocence about it, a freshness that allows me to think clearly and positively.

Our behaviour, or the way we react to certain situations is based on our “State”.

Our state is governed by the things that are going on in us internally; the pictures and sounds we make in our minds (including internal dialogue) and our physiology (posture, muscle tension, breathing, etc.).

These processes are driven by the way we have reacted to situations in the past and after we have reacted in a certain number of times (research shows around 21 times) these become unconscious behaviours.

However we can control these “reactions” consciously, try this. You may want to read through this process a couple of times to familiarise yourself with it.

Find somewhere to sit and make yourself comfortable, take a few nice easy breaths and allow yourself to relax.

Imagine a happy time when it snowed before, make the picture in your mind big and bright. Remember the sounds associated with this memory, maybe the sounds of children laughing, the crunch of the snow beneath your feet. Now remember how you felt, that coolness of the crisp air against your cheeks, the heat underneath the many layers that cover your body and maybe the freshness of the chilled air.

Now take a moment to notice how you feel, what are the sensations like? Where do you notice them and do they change or move?