Works for feeling stuck too.
Do you ever have those moments when you feel kind of lost? Confused? Stuck?
Unsure about what to do next, how to move ahead?
Here is the key to resolve that feeling: get into more playful, more open, lighter state of being.
To get un-stuck, you need to shift from the mindset of “I should have the right answers!” into mindset of an explorer!
What is the mindset of an explorer?
Curious. Creative. Open. Accepting. Ready to play and explore whatever comes his/her way.
Light. Easy. Not obsessing over the right answers, “achieving the goals” or “getting things done”.
While an explorer might have big dreams that drive them and inspire them, in this moment they are looking only at one step ahead. Just a small step.
What’s next? What can I engage with? What can I be curious about?
Here are some ideas on how you can work on your “explorer mindset” and shift out of feeling stuck or lost:
🎨 Boost your positive emotions
Uncomfortable emotions put us in survival mode, and make us think narrowly, sort of a tunnel vision. We close off, we are less creative.
Pleasant emotions, on the other hand, make us open up. They shift us into more of big picture thinking and make us more creative, more open, more curious.
So, the first step in opening your eyes towards more opportunities and more ideas on how to move ahead is getting into more positive emotion.
Leave that sense of frustration or pressure behind – instead, look for sparks of joy in your day and how to cultivate more of those.
Focus on the emotion that you would enjoy having more off, and then simply engage in actions that give you that emotion.
Do small and big things that make you feel good: sing, dance, connect with a friend, listen to music, read a book, do gardening, go for massage… (For this it is great to have your list of happiness boosters ready. So, if you don’t have one already, today might be the right time to start writing it? Grab ours for inspiration.)
Recharge and renew your capacity for joyful living. The rest will follow.
🎈Be easy on yourself - and take things more lightly
One of the biggest traps of “getting stuck” or “feeling lost” is that we get into this heavy mindset.
We start criticizing ourselves about how we should have resolved this situation already, how we such for struggling with this, we start pressurizing ourself how we should find the answers asap.
And that makes us tighten up and cramp up – both physically and mentally. It makes us feel heavy, and like all the weight of the world is on our shoulders.
So how would it be if instead you started taking things a bit more lightly?
Great way to start is to breathe. Literally, just to pay more attention to breath really deep, with looong exhales.
Find ways to relax. Move your body in creative, light ways. Tickle your mind with creative, light thoughts. Engage in light conversations.
🤸Get playful
And if “taking things more lightly” is still a mystery to you – luckily, we humans have an amazing gateway into this.
It is called play. When we allow ourself to be playful, both lightness and sparks of joy follow.
What is actually playfulness?
It can be engaging our body in play – by engaging in a puzzle, creative endeavour such as finger-painting, or sports, acrobatics or dance.
But it can be even more powerful when we focus on our mind and shift it into a playful state.
Have a silly conversation with a friend. (You might also wanna joke about feeling stuck…again). Write your bucket list – list of silly ideas that you wanna do before you “kick the bucket”. Watch funny movies. Spend time with cats, dogs, kids or horses. Be spontaneous. Do something new or something you haven’t done in a while. Go to amusement park or aqua park. Dress up playfully. Cook playfully. Go on a playful date.
Actions can be playful – but, even more often, playfulness is mindset and attitude we bring into things we do.
Start by asking “What makes me (feel) playful? And how can I do more of it already today?”
🌳 Spend time in nature
There is something about nature that opens up our thinking. First of all, it gives us sense of calm and feeling grounded.
Opens up a new perspective.
Big views makes us think more openly, more creative, give us more of a “bigger picture” view of life.
It makes us feel connected, supported, and occasionally amazed.
So look to engage with nature, plants, animals, mountains, sea, views as much as you can.
When you feel indecisive, unsure what to do or lost – step outside, go for a walk, hike, run.
⛰️ See life as an adventure
Imagine your life is a story or a movie. Every hero has a dark moment, right? In fact, often that is the moment just before the best part comes ✨
Embrace the struggle. Be curious about what is next ahead of you. Go back to that mindset of an explorer.
Recognize that life is a journey – and that the living is not just that moment when you achieve the goal, or find the answers.
Instead, living is exactly that step-by-step journey.
And life becomes amazing when you find a way of truly appreciating and savouring all those steps on the way (even when they feel like a struggle, a little bit lost or occasionally stuck).
Action time:
💡 Which of these 5 will you explore in action? Which of these do you sense it is the right way for you to get un-stuck?
Remember, playfully and one step at a time.
😈 But all these sparks of joy, playfulness and mindset of explorer haven’t really changed anything in reality of my life, have they?
Nope. You got some breathing space, changed your perspective a bit, but it didn’t really make any real change in your life.
But here is the catch: you can’t see the view into the distance while you are sitting in a small dark room.
You need to shift your mindset and emotional state first to open up your eyes to possibilities, to dream bigger, to build new visions and get new ideas.
That is why only after you manage your state of mind and awake that spark your joy and playfulness is the time for the second step in getting unstuck – making your plan.
Successful plan starts with dreaming big (without making it into a burden and scary – playing with it, being in dreamy and silly mode),
and then making a solid plan of the first small action step that you can do on the way to that dream.
The most important question is: What is the first smallest yet specific step that would make the biggest impact (towards me building up that envisioned life)?
And then committing to that step.
Focusing all your energy to that immediate next step – still aiming to maintain a good feeling, but also working on those goals.
Looking for more structure, clarity and motivation with your plan-making?
Join us at Life Design workshop – it is a 3-hour workshops where in a light, positive and motivating atmosphere you work out your life vision, and then build a solid plan to move towards that vision. You end up with a clear life plan – as well as new motivation and clarity.
P.S. Been to Life Design a while back and it’s time to re-connect with your plan? Reconnect is coming up in July – let me know if interested and I will involve you in picking the date 🙂
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