09 Sep Time for a fire drill!
Have you ever taken part in a fire drill? Many of us take part regularly in the workplace, school, community etc. It may sometimes feel a little inconvenient, but we understand it’s importance. Regardless what we are doing the sound of the alarm moves us to a designated place of safety. We ensure a call has been made for support….it this case the fire and emergency service (not actually made during a drill, we ensure we know where these numbers are located should we need them). When the situation is deemed safe we return to where we were. All is well!
The purpose of the fire drill is to actively walk through and think through what you would do in the event of a fire to ensure your safety. We take part in these in these on ordinary, normal days. On these days we may be thinking clearly, enabling us to remember escape routes, emergency numbers, first aid skills should we need to use them.
When we begin to incorporate Mindfulness practices into our lives, we practice the pause, learn how to respond instead of react, allow time each day for thoughts to settle. When we practice daily we give ourselves skills in the event of the fire! We do not need to wait for the emergency in order to practice. When we practice on our “good days” we are able to skillfully respond on the “bad days”.
As we know the more we repeat something the better we become at it.
Practicing small moments of calm breathing, stillness, settling of thoughts… these are your daily fire drills.
Thanks for reading
Carmel