Mindful Hack #80

At the end of the day, even when life and the world around us seem extremely complicated, we humans are pretty straight-forward creatures. Straight-forward in the sense of what we need to feel okay: food, shelter, and a sense of belonging. While most of us are fortunate enough not to have to worry too much about the former two, when we don’t feel connected, our whole world can feel off-kilter. 

The thing we tend to forget about belonging is that first and foremost, we need to feel settled within ourselves. When we don’t, the best thing we can do is to make a little time for self-care. Sometimes just checking in to see how we’re doing can go a long way in feeling more centered, secure. Too often we’re looking outside of ourselves to feel better, and almost as often we come up short because belonging and connection start “in here,” not “out there.”

That said, of course it’s natural to want to feel closeness and affinity to others, too. We’re social beings and traditionally our survival depended on being part of a tribe. When we don’t feel that bond, we sometimes behave in ways that do the exact opposite of creating it – with agitation, aggression and even blame or contempt. The thing is, like begets like and what we put out there, we get back in spades. That means that whatever we want to get or to feel, we first need to give.

Give what you wish to receive: love, time, support, a kind word… Give and you will get even more than you wanted.

Make someone’s day today, and I’ll bet you’ll make your own in the process.