Friday finds
One small smile, one thing to try and
one thought to take into the weekend.
Theme: Busy Builders Learn to Pause
Connection
A little smile
We've been beavering away at HERE this autumn, and it turns out we're in good company. Beavers are so driven to build that scientists once played a recording of running water through a speaker, and the beavers tried to dam it.
Share it with your own kids or the people you work with as a little icebreaker or a “did you know?”
Video from @AnimalDoozy on YouTube.
Mindfulness
One to try
Our heart rate speeds up slightly as we breathe in and slows as we breathe out, so a longer out-breath gives the body more time in the calming phase. Slow breathing also engages the vagus nerve, part of the “rest and digest” system that tells the brain we're safe. That's why a few breaths can feel like a mini reset.
Try it now
Repeat three times. Children can join in by slowly blowing out an imaginary candle.
Creativity
On our bookshelf
This week we've been dipping into Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman.
“Joyless urgency”
One idea that stayed with us is “joyless urgency”, the feeling of always rushing toward the next thing, so that life seems to be waiting somewhere ahead. It's easy to feel when you're beavering away. A pause, like the slow breaths above, is a way of stepping back into the moment you're actually in.
Wishing you a calm weekend ahead,
Jen and Dana