LEAVES ON A STREAM

There was first a time, a very long stretch of time, when I felt that I was living life as I should. Each and every day I would wake up, do my daily errands, finish my work and go to bed. It’s true that I felt a lot of stress and strain. But I felt that it was healthy for me, as I believed that work was what life was all about. As for pleasure, it was my genuine belief that fun only came from achieving weekly allowances, credentials and other positivities from working; and by that I mean working very hard.

Eventually it came to my attention that this lifestyle wasn’t bringing me much in terms of happiness. In fact I believed that it was because I wasn’t working hard enough. I tried with all my might, but I couldn’t possibly work any harder. There just weren’t enough hours in a day! What on earth could I do about that?!

This turned into a phase of depression and I discussed everything I mentioned above with a therapist. She told me that I wasn’t living life in a healthy way. But at first I did not believe that. I was adamant that working was the only possible way to achieve happiness and to be a responsible member of society. When I voiced this my therapist measured my resting heart rate and I received a shock. My resting heart rate was 140bpm, which was nearly double of what was average. Then I was told that if I continued to live life the way I did it was certain that I would eventually have a heart attack or a stroke. My grandfather had heart attacks and a stroke in his lifetime, and seeing how that affected him made me so very fearful about experiencing those myself.

Having To Make a Change

It was then when I decided that my life depended on me changing my own lifestyle. Though at first it was very difficult because I naturally feel very uncomfortable about change. However my therapist said that all I needed to do was add mindfulness exercises to my daily schedule. I could still continue doing my work and the things which had always given me pleasure.

As I liked the Harry Potter series I was given an exercise called “Leaves on a Stream” because it has many similarities to Dumbledore’s pensieve. In the exercise I stop and relax, with my eyes either open or closed. I then imagine that every thought, word, feeling etc. running through my mind is placed onto a leaf and tossed into a flowing stream beside me. It’s essential that I pay no attention to what that thought or feeling is. All I do is imagine that it’s being tossed away. Eventually, after the leaves and the stream in my imagination are moving incredibly fast at the beginning, I then discover after five or so minutes that all the action starts to wind down and move much more slowly. That’s the time when I notice myself feeling calmer.

Previously I was skeptical about this working because I didn’t feel that I had a strong enough imagination to do mindfulness exercises affectively. Also I felt that I wouldn’t have enough time in my day to do such exercises. However Leaves on a Stream only takes 10 minutes at most, and I can even do it without anyone noticing (as my eyes don’t have to be closed) if ever I’m overwhelmed outside of home.

How it Worked Magically

Leaves on a Stream had definitely worked amazingly, and I was feeling much happier each and every day. People around me noticed that I was in a much better mood all the time. They also noticed that I was much brighter, smiled more and had more personality than I had previously. My resting heart rate had then dropped to 88bpm which is now in the average range. All of that came from this simple quick exercise. I also found that I got even more done in my day than before, as less time was wasted from stress itself!

I Now Encourage Each and Every Person to do Mindfulness Exercises

After doing Leaves on a Stream regularly for five years it’s now become second nature for me whenever I feel overwhelmed or stressed. The more I practice it, the more affective it becomes, and I’ve now even created a few other mindfulness exercises of my own. A tip I have for people with a busy lifestyle is to use the time when they’re in bed (before they fall asleep or after they wake up) so that hours of mindfulness exercises don’t cut into those of their working day.

Nowadays I encourage each and every person to do mindfulness exercises, and to know just how important they are for our happiness, health and our chance to have a longer life. Mindfulness has transformed my whole life from stress and bouts of depression to happiness which is almost constant. Moments of stress have now become short-lived and much more minor. Leaves on a Stream has truly saved me.