2618: Go For a Presence Walk AND Rebuilding Momentum After Setbacks by Steve Pavlina on Mindfulness

[00:00:00] Delicious meets nutritious in the snack that packs a real protein punch. Wonderful Pistachios Each 1-ounce serving of Wonderful Pistachios has 6 grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value and making Wonderful

[00:00:13] Pistachios one of the highest protein nuts. But perhaps more than that, I love all of the flavors they have. Their sea salt and vinegar ones are my favorite when I'm craving that flavor but want to keep it healthy. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[00:00:27] Wonderful Pistachios come in a variety of flavors like chili roasted, honey roasted, smoky barbecue and jalapeno lime, perfect for enjoying with family and friends or taking them with you on the go. Whether you're a pistachio purist who loves cracking open every nut or you

[00:00:44] prefer the convenience of no-shells pistachios, Wonderful Pistachios has got you covered. Grab Wonderful Pistachios and elevate your snacking game today. So fill up with a healthy snack when hunger strikes. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn more. That's wonderfulpistachios.com. Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can

[00:01:06] really set the stage for a good night's sleep? That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep. Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations

[00:01:22] aren't just comforting, they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true good sleep. So press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a good night's sleep. Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app

[00:01:39] and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily. This is Optimal Health Daily episode 2618. Go for a presence walk and rebuilding momentum after setbacks, both by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com. And I'm your host and narrator,

[00:01:56] Dr. Neal Malik. Hey there, happy Wednesday and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I read to you from popular health and fitness blogs to help you optimize your health. Now today is Wednesday and like I do every Wednesday, I like to share a little bit of

[00:02:11] inspiration with you. So with that, here we go. Quote, The wisest mind has something yet to learn. George Santayana. Alright, and with that, let's get to today's two posts and start optimizing your life. Go for a presence walk by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com.

[00:02:37] An exercise I found helpful to practice living in the present moment is to go for what I call a presence walk. This is just something I made up but I doubt the idea is original.

[00:02:48] Here's how it works. 1. Go for a walk alone, anywhere you like, as long as you want. And 2. As you walk, keep your conscious attention focused fully and completely on the present moment. Do not allow any thoughts of past or future to enter your mind. Do not imagine anything.

[00:03:08] Do not sub-vocalize any of your thoughts, meaning don't think in words. Focus your complete attention on perceiving the present moment as fully as possible. See what you see, hear what you hear, smell what you smell, feel what you feel. That's it. It sounds simple but it's very

[00:03:27] difficult to master. The first time I went for a presence walk was around 1997. I was living in Marina del Rey at the time and I used to go for long walks along the beach and the docks.

[00:03:39] I noticed that my mind was always churning during my walks and one time I wondered what it would be like to stop thinking for a while and just focus all of my attention on my perceptions.

[00:03:50] It was an amazing experience. I felt like I'd entered a new dimension. Everything became more vivid and alive. I was so accustomed to living in the future, preoccupied with the events of

[00:04:01] the next day, the next week or the next month. I noticed the feel of my feet on the ground, felt the breath enter and exit my lungs, and smelled the salty ocean air. I remember looking

[00:04:13] at a tree and thinking that I was finally seeing it for the first time as it really was. At the time, I had a lot of external stressors in my life but in the present moment, those problems ceased

[00:04:25] to exist. This was a big lesson in learning to use my consciousness. Over the next several months, I began taking these presence walks more frequently and since then, it's been an ongoing

[00:04:36] practice for me. I even do them on the Las Vegas Strip on occasion, although sometimes the energy can be a bit overwhelming. I suppose this can be considered a form of meditation but it's different

[00:04:48] than any other meditation I've done because the scenery, the sights, sounds and smells change along the way. In the beginning, it was a real challenge to keep my attention focused on the present. Invariably, I'd catch myself thinking about the past or future. I started challenging

[00:05:04] myself to see how long I could stay in the present moment. At first, I could only go a couple minutes but I gradually improved. This practice helped me develop my ability to quiet and refocus my mind

[00:05:16] whenever my thoughts became too chaotic. If you're preoccupied with unpleasant or racing thoughts, you can successfully turn them off by putting your attention onto something else. In meditation, you might do this by focusing on your breathing or a koan but I often find that my mind is too

[00:05:33] strong for those simple methods to keep it quiet. A presence walk gives my mind plenty of sensory input to process so I find it easier to keep my consciousness focused on the present moment

[00:05:44] without the onset of mental chatter. Try going for a presence walk today and see how long you can keep your attention focused fully on the present moment. I think you'll find it an enlightening and enjoyable

[00:05:56] experience. You can also practice being fully in the present moment while sitting, eating, driving, and doing other daily activities. In the long run, I believe this practice helps improve concentration and emotional stability and it certainly promotes feelings of inner peace

[00:06:14] and well-being. Rebuilding Momentum After Setbacks by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com If you ever find yourself feeling unmotivated because of too many setbacks in a short period of time, here's a simple way to rebuild your confidence and restore motivation. Switch

[00:06:36] to smaller tasks you're certain to achieve and just do those for a day or two. Put the big projects off for a moment. Get back to the basics. Clean out your refrigerator. Get an oil change for your car.

[00:06:49] Get a haircut. Cook your favorite meal. Buy a gift for someone's birthday. Organize your desk. Do the dishes. Restock your supplies. Buy that book everyone is telling you to read. Upgrade your most frequently used software to the latest versions. Clean up your web browser bookmarks.

[00:07:05] Give your significant other a nice massage. Maybe send me quick feedback to let me know if anything I'm writing is making a difference for you or send me a suggestion for future blog entries.

[00:07:16] Just do lots of little things you can complete one by one, racking up a series of small personal accomplishments. Temporarily stick with super simple tasks as much as you can, whether they're work-related or just personal. This will gradually rebuild your self-image as someone who competently

[00:07:33] gets things done. You'll start feeling just a little more motivated because action induces motivation. Plus, you'll enjoy the small benefits of completing all these little tasks and those can add up. Moreover, do a really good job on these simple tasks. Do your very best. Make those dishes

[00:07:53] shine. If you're doing a lot of physical tasks, put on your favorite music. Enjoy the process. Remember, these are easy tasks. Once you start feeling pretty good about getting these simple tasks done, graduate to medium-sized tasks. Do something a little more challenging and get it

[00:08:10] done no matter what. If you start floundering, drop back to the simple tasks and stick with them for another day or two. Gradually build your momentum until you can enthusiastically return to your most ambitious projects. We all feel unmotivated at times, but no one has to wallow

[00:08:27] in this state. It's just a sign that it's time to sharpen the saw. Get back to basics and retrain yourself to feel confident again with lots of small victories. While working on minor tasks isn't

[00:08:39] a great long-term strategy, it can provide the short-term boost needed to return to more challenging work with a strong drive. You just listened to the posts titled, Go for a Presence Walk and Rebuilding

[00:08:56] Momentum After Setbacks, both by Steve Pavlina of stevepavlina.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary. I want to talk a bit more about Steve's second post, Rebuilding Momentum After Setbacks. Steve suggested that to motivate ourselves,

[00:09:14] complete some simple tasks. By doing this, you'll hopefully start to feel more productive. These small wins can help provide us with momentum to take on the more challenging tasks we've been putting off. It may help to think of it like this. Let's say you have a trip planned.

[00:09:31] You only have so many vacation days to travel to your destination, enjoy yourself, and then get back home in time to get back to real life again. Now let's say on the first day of travel, the flight

[00:09:43] to your destination gets cancelled. The next flight to your destination isn't for another three days. Do you give up and say, well, my vacation is over? Maybe. But what if I told you that your

[00:09:56] destination is within driving distance? Maybe it's 10 hours by car. Now what would you do? Would you still give up on your vacation or would you rent a car, drive the 10 hours and be there

[00:10:07] with plenty of time to spare and still enjoy your trip? I'm hoping you would still make the trip. Like this example, life has setbacks. We encounter setbacks all the time for all of our behaviors.

[00:10:20] But as Steve said, we don't have to wallow when these happen. Look for those small victories and we might just find that we will feel rewarded for this effort. And of course, to get to that point,

[00:10:32] we need to just keep moving, even if it's just small steps or small wins. All right, that'll do it for another edition of Optimal Health Daily. Thank you so much for

[00:10:42] listening and sharing the show with someone. That really goes a long way to keep all of this going. I hope you have a great day and I'll see you back here tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.