Slow Down & Soak It In.

When I was a child, my father taught me a trick to transport me back to my favorite moments. It's really quite simple, you pick your moment, you pick a song, and pair them. While you are in that moment, listen to the same song over and over. Not just a couple of times, a lot of times. Over and over and over and over. Then, once you’ve returned to your normal life, play that same song and watch as your body and mind transform back. That moment soaks into your very being and becomes a secret that is yours to access whenever you need it.

I love this trick because it shapes the way you remember things, the way that your spirit holds on to the moments that bring us peace. No longer are we naturally inclined to simply sit in a moment and soak it in. Maybe, that is why so many of the things that we label as “self care” require us to be still. The poor cliched bubble bath gets such a bad rap. It's been over taught and oversold as the answer to the nation wide feeling of burn out; when really, it does have its merits. *gets on soap box and clears throat-Perhaps, it's not that the bubble bath is the issue, but instead that we surround ourselves with things that do not serve our mental well being. Perhaps, the societal expectations of “the grind” is not conducive to the betterment of every soul. Perhaps the bubble bath would be enough of a balm to our days if they were filled with fewer expectations, fewer comparisons, fewer bombardments of the nervous system. Maybe, our shoulders could relax and we could take deeper, easier, slow breaths if we accepted the little weirdo that, I believe, lives in all of us. They are just trying to make it through the normalcy of every day. *steps off soapbox sheepishly determined

To truly slow down and disconnect enough to soak in your present moment requires a level of vulnerability that many of us, including me, are uncomfortable with. I’m a chronic, daily, unabashed podcast consumer. They fill my quiet moments and help me to focus. My brain is a constant cacophony of thoughts, not necessarily stressful thoughts, just a lot of them. However, when I'm face to face with a red soaked canyon or the vast expanse of the ocean, there is a rare quiet that blankets my whole being. What I find interesting is that those moments aren’t exactly relaxing bubble baths. They are often moments that have challenged me in some way, required something of me.  Those moments seem to find me when I’m somewhere new, often dirty and without cell phone service. We all have to find our places that heal and quiet us; but we have to be the ones that find them.

When was the last time you were awestruck? How do you hold on to that moment? How are you caring for your soul?

-Alyssa