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Overwhelm and the Importance of Self-Care
Monday night saw me high up in the circle at the Hammersmith Apollo for Evanescence: Synthesis. This involved Amy Lee, in an awesome layered purple skirt and black corset, singing with her band, and a full orchestra, and it was amazing. Wow - can she sing! Her voice is incredible, and easily stood up to the orchestral accompaniment. It was a combination of old favourites and songs I was less familiar with, but it was all so good, it actually felt quite overwhelming at times. But so, so worth it.
Of course, hell is other people, and I found myself very glad that I’ve cultivated an ability to mostly ignore them over the past few years. The show started with some gorgeous classical pieces from the orchestra, which the people behind us talked all the way through, very loudly. Then, the guy on the other side of my friend had his phone out for the whole show, probably recording it, but definitely waving a very bright, white screen around in my peripheral vision. And it did get rather hot and pretty stinky by the end of the night.
Still, while I would have preferred the absence of those annoyances, I didn’t let them detract from my enjoyment of the show, and it was a great night. When I see excellent performances that I can really immerse myself in, I quite often find myself yearning to create, and this show was an excellent example of that. I had great ideas about the next steps in two of my major writing projects, and left the theatre feeling buoyed and inspired.
Last night, after many months of intermittent attention, I finally finished The Happiness (R)evolution by Pam Ellis. This is a book about increasing your wellbeing and general happiness by following a programme of self-analysis and re-programming of your brain. It’s based on the principles of Kaizen, which is a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. When applied to the mind, it suggests making small changes and repeating them a lot to replace long-ingrained reactions and habits with more rational and positive thinking.
The book has a very chirpy, encouraging tone, which elicited a lot of eye-rolling from me as I read it, but the basic information in it is sound, and it has a lot of important messages about self-care, ridding yourself of unhelpful reactions, and arming yourself with tools that can help you get more appreciation out of your life. It didn’t contain anything that was particularly new to me, since I’ve been working on this kind of stuff for a while now, but it’s the kind of thing that’s really useful to revisit over and over again. So, this was the latest in a long line of books I have read, or intend to read, as a way of continually reminding myself of this information. It’s my way to achieving the repetition part of the process, and it seems to be working.
My favourite bit was the chapter on Independence, which talked about the benefits of giving yourself time alone to do the things you enjoy and that are important to you. The best piece of advice I will be taking away from this book is: “When we feel recharged and honored by ourselves we naturally experience a sense of gratitude and abundance, which in turn allows us to share our happiness more freely.”
I like the idea that being kind to myself makes me more able to be kind to others, and thus is not a selfish act. If I work to increase my own happiness, I won’t expect others to be responsible for it, and I will be better prepared to help others out of a sense of joy rather than obligation.
Of course, hell is other people, and I found myself very glad that I’ve cultivated an ability to mostly ignore them over the past few years. The show started with some gorgeous classical pieces from the orchestra, which the people behind us talked all the way through, very loudly. Then, the guy on the other side of my friend had his phone out for the whole show, probably recording it, but definitely waving a very bright, white screen around in my peripheral vision. And it did get rather hot and pretty stinky by the end of the night.
Still, while I would have preferred the absence of those annoyances, I didn’t let them detract from my enjoyment of the show, and it was a great night. When I see excellent performances that I can really immerse myself in, I quite often find myself yearning to create, and this show was an excellent example of that. I had great ideas about the next steps in two of my major writing projects, and left the theatre feeling buoyed and inspired.
Last night, after many months of intermittent attention, I finally finished The Happiness (R)evolution by Pam Ellis. This is a book about increasing your wellbeing and general happiness by following a programme of self-analysis and re-programming of your brain. It’s based on the principles of Kaizen, which is a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. When applied to the mind, it suggests making small changes and repeating them a lot to replace long-ingrained reactions and habits with more rational and positive thinking.
The book has a very chirpy, encouraging tone, which elicited a lot of eye-rolling from me as I read it, but the basic information in it is sound, and it has a lot of important messages about self-care, ridding yourself of unhelpful reactions, and arming yourself with tools that can help you get more appreciation out of your life. It didn’t contain anything that was particularly new to me, since I’ve been working on this kind of stuff for a while now, but it’s the kind of thing that’s really useful to revisit over and over again. So, this was the latest in a long line of books I have read, or intend to read, as a way of continually reminding myself of this information. It’s my way to achieving the repetition part of the process, and it seems to be working.
My favourite bit was the chapter on Independence, which talked about the benefits of giving yourself time alone to do the things you enjoy and that are important to you. The best piece of advice I will be taking away from this book is: “When we feel recharged and honored by ourselves we naturally experience a sense of gratitude and abundance, which in turn allows us to share our happiness more freely.”
I like the idea that being kind to myself makes me more able to be kind to others, and thus is not a selfish act. If I work to increase my own happiness, I won’t expect others to be responsible for it, and I will be better prepared to help others out of a sense of joy rather than obligation.