The Feel-Good Factor: No.1

Lots of us find it difficult to feel good about ourselves. Even when things are going well we can be reluctant to make too much of it. Is this partly superstition? A feeling that when things are going (too?) well we might, by acknowledging this, be setting ourselves up for a fall?

This is a natural human reaction. We live in a difficult world, a world where almost anything can happen at any time. It doesn’t always of course. Often our lives for long periods of time follow predictable patterns. Too much predictability can itself become a problem.

There is something to be said though for forgetting sometimes about future possibilities and problems from the past, bringing ourselves into the moment - fully into the moment - and accepting that in the moment we can feel good. In fact, just feeling, looking and listening is good in itself.

Actually look at the world for a moment, not with your head, but with your eyes. Feel what it is like to be in the moment with your body. Be aware of your body, of your breathing. Hear the sounds around you. Even the sound of a passing car, when experienced as a sound, can be pleasurable, comforting, calming. Feel the vibrations of the sound in your body. Open up to the resonance of being in the present.