A good state of mind is like fresh air, and a bad state of mind is like being stuck in a stuffy room.
And I like this metaphor because we’ve all had that experience of being in a room where the air is very stuffy and still, closed windows, no circulation.
And maybe we get used to it, and it becomes normal, but it’s always just a little bit uncomfortable and just makes everything a bit worse, makes our attitude a bit worse, and harder to enjoy whatever we’re doing.
And then suddenly we open a window, and suddenly this fresh breeze of cool, fresh air comes in, and there’s that immediate feeling of refreshment, that feeling of being healthier, being more alive, and just being reminded of all the good things in life.
And so I like this metaphor for our state of mind, because it’s so easy to get stuck in these stuffy rooms of our own mind, as we’re thinking about our own business, concerned about whatever details are bothering us, we can easily get into this kind of mental hole, this kind of like a mental cave, a mental room with closed windows, and it’s like we’re breathing our own air.
We’re not getting something fresh from outside.
We’re just breathing our own repeated thoughts, and just sort of stuck within a small space.
That stuffy room feeling, this feeling of being inside a small space, and there’s no access to the bigger picture.
We’re cut off from anything else, and we’re just sort of going around and around in this small area.
But as soon as we open that window and let in the fresh air, it’s like we’re connected to the bigger picture.
Because when we’re getting a breath of fresh air, we’re outside, we’re open to the atmosphere.
I mean, that’s like the whole world atmosphere is all connected together.
We’re getting this breath of air that we take now outside: there’s nothing standing between it and any air anywhere in the world.
It’s just this full pattern of circulation all over the world.
So just that single breath of fresh air is like we are connected to the whole world, the whole atmosphere.
We are part of the whole.
Whereas the stuffy room feeling is being cut off from the whole.
And it also gives the feeling that fresh air is something that needs to be continually renewed.
We can’t just get a supply of it and store it up and then use it indefinitely.
We have to continually be connected to this bigger picture.
We have to continually get new supplies of fresh air.
So how do we get this metaphorical fresh air?
I mean, some of it, I think, is just actually getting outside, because our physical environment, our physical state, reflects and is part of our mental state.
And so just even getting outside, just as I did today, I spent the morning inside, and then just had to get outside for a walk, come to the park, get the fresh air.
Of course, even better when there’s grass and trees around to get that fresher air.
But just to be outside.
And then, also, to stretch the metaphor, even just the fresh air of new ideas, the fresh air of other people and their input, and anything that takes us out of our own thoughts and mixes us.
This air is a mix of everything, a mix of everybody’s thoughts, a mix of we’re getting influence from outside.
We need that fresh air to come in from outside.
We can’t keep everything we need for ourselves.
We have to be part of the bigger atmosphere outside.
So I like to use this metaphor.
And although, I guess, most of all, I just like to actually get some fresh air.
And the effect on my state of mind is so strong, it’s almost too easy.
So I hope you enjoy your own fresh air in whatever form it comes.
#freshair #mentalhole #mentalrefresh