From the Buurtbrief (Neighborhood newsletter) July 2023, by Birds WG
Simple Repeatable Holiday Actions
How to make the effects of the holidays last longer...
This is what usually happens: we go on a holiday, and we rest, and we recharge and then it is over and we come back and two days afterwards it feels like we were never on holidays, right? I have certainly experienced this and so have all the people I know. Then we tend to blame this on the very stressful rhythms of our daily lives, the busy work schedule , the too many family obligations. I have found out that this is not the reason why we cannot enjoy the ripple effects of our rest and renewal beyond the end of our holidays. I have also found out there is a great tip for creating this ripple effect consciously and intentionally and I am going to share it here with you. I have discovered that there is a simple way to infuse our daily lives with the magic of holidays. And by magic I mean this moment during the holiday when we have felt some kind of bliss and joy. It might have been when we woke up in the morning and we took a walk alone by the water or in a forest, or a moment of connection with friends and family around a campfire, or a sense of vitality while we were swimming. Those moments where we feel some kind of magical bliss inside us are not exactly easy to explain. And because we cannot put it into words what it was that made this moment (or moments) in our holiday so blissful we cannot recreate it. It is not easy to identify the ingredients that made it happen other than “because we were on holidays”. So it feels that by definition it is only accessible when we are on holidays and we have to wait for the next ones. But this is not true. All we need to do is to find a small simple repeatable holiday action that represents that moment and infuse it into our daily lives. I will explain now how this is done and why it works. How can we find a small practical thing that represents the holiday bliss? Something that is easy to repeat? Just because it is simple it does not mean it is easy. First the timing is important. We have to identify what such a thing could be and put it to action within the first three days after the end of the holidays. This is essential. Afterwards the connection to the holiday is very hard to recover. And it has to be something practical which gives you joy every-time you do it. It might be something that seems trivial and silly. I will give a couple of examples: Example number one: You are at a camping. Every morning and every night on your way to the showers it was very quiet and you enjoyed that. It was a magical moment of relaxation. Possible simple repeatable holiday actions: waking up 10 minutes earlier every morning when everyone in your house is still sleeping and savour the silence, or staying up 10 min later in the evening after everyone has gone to bed, or buying a noise canceling headset and use it for 10 min every day to block out all noises. Example number two: You visited Barcelona for a few days. You felt free and carefree but you cannot pinpoint why or identify a specific moment. In this case, look into what you did while you were there: maybe you wandered a lot around the city without purpose looking at public art, or you had cold drinks at your balcony in the evenings with your feet up on a stool. Possible simple repeatable holiday actions: download and watch documentaries about public art, or make a habit of wandering around in your neighbourhood or city for twenty minutes every day or a few hours every week or buy a stool to put your feet up when you are resting on the sofa. You can apply this process even if you went nowhere for your holiday and just stayed at home to rest. From an energy point of view every travel and every break from our routine is a moment of transformation. Some transformation will take place even if we are totally not aware or intentional about it. But if we practice with the simple repeatable holiday actions we will enhance this potential for transformation to the maximum and we will feel the effect of our holidays lasting longer even if the life we get back to after our break is very busy or very overwhelming. And this is why this works: By practicing a simple repeatable holiday action we create a link between the inexplicable bliss (of that amazing holiday moment) and the material physical world. The simple repeatable holiday action becomes like a spell which keeps the connection between daily life and the inexplicable holiday bliss alive. It is an affirmative action that says to the universe:
My bliss is important to me, and I intentionally train myself to choose it every day.
I am curious about the things that make me feel good and I want to explore them. The more I practice with these actions the more my life begins to feel good (all the time, not just during the holidays).
I am willing to change towards the direction of my own unknown expansion and discover something about myself I did not know before. As I do that other changes that I want to accomplice begin to seem possible and begin to manifest.
Whether you travel somewhere or not, whether you have a long or short holiday, see what happens if immediately after the holiday you pick up one or two simple repeatable holiday actions. Not only will the ripple effect of your holiday last longer but also those actions can actually skyrocket our lives.
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