Happy New Year to Moodsurfing readers. Nothing needs to be said about 2020 that hasn’t already been said. While acknowledging how hard things are for many people right now, Moodsurfing is looking ahead with confidence to the future. 2021 has to be a better year.
Regular readers will probably remember that we like Rick Hanson and his educational programs, newsletters and books. Honestly we are in awe of both his message, which is inspirational and based in neuroscience, and his energy.
Moodsurfing made it through most of The Foundations of Wellbeing course but it required quite a commitment of time. So, we were pleased to run across the announcement for Just One Minute, a subscription program that is both more affordable (49$) and more accessible (2 minutes or less a day).
As Rick describes it,
The basic idea here is to do little practices, each of which takes less than a few minutes a day, which will actually, with repetition, grow good things inside you, so that over time you can build up a sense of inner strength, inner worth, inner capability, and inner peace, growing over time an unshakable core of confidence and contentment, that’s literally hardwired into your own nervous system. Each of these practices has a fairly short video…[and] … a quotation you can focus on and some things to bring into everyday life…. it’s what I call the “law of little things…” it’s often lots of little bad things that take us to a bad place and it’s lots of little good things that take us to a good place, that fills us up over time and produces big results.
Rick Hanson, PhD
The first practice is called “Be for Yourself” and reflects a theme that Moodsurfing often sees in the lives of people who are caregivers and caretakers. They are very good at taking care of others but find it very hard to take care of themselves.
In the 2 minute video that begins the program, Rick reminds us of the famous Hillel quote: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”
The teaching reminds us that our commitment to ourselves needs to be our primary, although not our only, commitment. We cannot be effective agents for change or members of a community or family, if we do not first care for ourselves.
Take a moment now to think about how you will take better care of yourself in 2021.