Exactly one week ago was “Blue Monday”.
This is statistically supposed to be the most depressing day of the year, for a number of reasons:
- Firstly, we’re still in the middle of winter, so in a lot of parts of the world, the weather is kind of grey and miserable (…although it’s lovely here in Marrakesh!).
- Secondly, we are just far away enough from the beginning of the new year that all the festivities have ended, but most people have given up on their goals by now.
- And thirdly, it’s a Monday. And for people who don’t love their jobs, it tends to not be their favorite day of the week.
I asked my clients about it last week, and for most of them, Blue Monday is not a thing.
Because, after working with me for a while, they know that their state of mind is dependent completely on the way that they’re thinking moment by moment… and not on the weather or the season or the day of the week, or anything else.
However, if you’ve found yourself being a little bit sad lately, perhaps there is a secret that can benefit you, that I learned from the one and only kids BBC TV show:
Bluey.
I literally watch this kids show with my 4 year old boys… to pick up parenting tips. If you haven’t seen it…
It. Is. Brilliant.
There was this one episode where Bluey’s younger sister was feeling down, and was trying to make herself feel better. And at the end of the episode, Bluey came along and gave her sister a magical idea. She said…
“Oh, well, you know what you can do is…”
And then she shared the big secret.
And the secret is something you can use with your own kids any time. I’ve been using it with my twin boys for a couple of years, and it works wonderfully well for both of them.
Instead of asking “Why do you feel sad?”
…which can get a person rationalizing all kinds of reasons (like the day of the week or the month or the season), a much better question to ask is:
“Where do you feel sad?”
Immediately, the child (or adult for that matter), will direct their attention into their body and notice where they’re feeling the energy of sadness, which is often simply a sensation felt somewhere in the body.
Bluey’s secret is then to point to it, and as soon as the child recognizes where it is, with permission, you can ask your kid if they want you to take it out.
And then you can literally pull it out of the body, like it’s some kind of physical slime ball… and then throw it somewhere.
My kids will often tell me where they want me to throw away this sad feeling, like out the window or at an object in the room.
Either way, within a couple of moments, they go from being very sad to feeling like they’ve received all the attention they wanted from you, and they’re feeling better again… and they didn’t have to wait for another day of the week, or another season, or for a change in the weather to get there.
Magical, eh?
If you want to feel like every day is the best day of your life…
and if you want to feel like you’re on track with your goals all year round…
and if you want all of the secrets about maintaining presence, dealing with negative emotions and limiting beliefs and all the other obstacles (internal and external) that typically sabotage our goals…
…then go and watch Bluey.
And when you’re done, you can also go over here and apply for a one to one coaching session with me:
