Feeling Lost?

Last Monday night the electricity and telephone cables were stolen. This is due their high resale value as they are made of copper. For those of you living in South Africa this is not unheard of and you can relate to the inconvenience caused by having no electricity in an age where we are tech dependent.

Given the high crime rate, the lack of electricity can evoke fear as our home security is reliant on it for the electric fencing, automatic gates and alarm system. Whilst I do appreciate stillness due to the lack of the electromagnetic field and buzz of appliances, it is scary to be in the dark.

Thankfully the electricity cables were replaced and I didn’t have to spend the rest of the week romantically by candle light. Being Africa, the replacement of the telephone cables on the other hand was a different story.

One day.

Two days…

Three…

Four…

Five days later and still waiting…

Having no telephone and internet is very isolating. You feel so cut off and disconnected from the world.

Have you ever felt disconnected from something? We need connection. It is part of what makes us human, connecting with others.

Perhaps you feel like a ship at sea drifting with no direction and no purpose. As a result you find yourself questioning who you are and why you are here because it feels like you are going nowhere.

How do you regain control over your life and reconnect with the You that you feel disconnected or separated from?

Use what you have where you are. Right now, as you read this, you have five senses that can help you reconnect.

Here is how:

1. Decide what emotion you would like to experience most of the time.
2. Define that emotion for yourself. Explain it as if the person you are explaining it to has no concept of what the emotion is.
3. Without judging or over thinking, ask yourself the following questions:
   • What can I eat/drink right now that will make me feel my desired emotion?
   • What can I see/look at right now that will make me feel my desired emotion?
   • What can I listen to/hear right now that will make me feel my desired emotion?
   • What can I touch/feel right now that will make me feel my desired emotion?
   • What can I smell right now that will make me feel my desired emotion?
4. Remember to be present, be where you are, be all there. All we have is the now. One minute ago is in the past and a minute from now is in the future. Be here in this moment, now, because it will never happen again. Enjoy it if you can and if you can’t know that it will pass.
5. Check in with yourself throughout the day by asking yourself if you are experiencing a feel-good or a feel-bad emotion. You need not name the emotion, just distinguish if it is a feel-good or a feel-bad. If it is a feel-good, enjoy it in that moment. If it is a feel-bad, repeat step 3.

Please note that the answers to the questions in step 3 will change depending on your mood at the time. Make a mental note or jot down the items that come up in answering the questions in step 3 and create opportunities to experience feel-goods throughout your day. For example if your answer for 3.5 was lavender, then buy a lavender hand cream or shower gel so that you can enjoy the feel-good emotion it brings every time you use the cream or shower gel.

By doing the above exercise throughout the day, you not only regain yourself of personal power and control over your life but you also can create opportunities to feel-good.