The light can shine from a doorknob!
OK you’re thinking Mick has lost the plot…. he’s talking about door knobs and sanity, two subjects that surely don’t belong in the same post!
But wait…. it’s not as crazy as it sounds.
How many times do you put your hand on a doorknob in any day? Interesting question isn’t it, I bet your mind is now trying to fly through a day doing a quick tally of how many times you open a door.
OK OK… but what has doorknob got to do with my sanity you’re asking?
Well that depends. If you are prepared to STOP for a second or two everytime you put your hand on a doorknob it could have a LOT to do with your sanity.
The doorknob was deliberately chosen because it is something that we frequently touch yet put little thought into. It is precisely these things that offer us a chance to become more mindful and to create a moment of calmness and clarity many times over during our day.
A doorknob for a moment of clarity.
If every time we put our hand on a doorknob throughout the day we pause, take a deep breath, relax our shoulders and briefly examine what is rushing through our heads, and ask ourselves a couple of quick questions we have an opportunity to take part in many mini meditations everyday.
What Questions?
The questions can be tailored to meet our individual needs but a good starting list of questions are:
What am I feeling right now?
Why am I feeling like this?
What am I about to do?
What is my intention on going through this door?
Who am I going to meet on the other side of the door?
Am I ready to really “meet” with them, and give them my FULL attention?
Other options?
The other option is to simply take the moment to relax yourself to take that deep breath, relax the shoulders, pull your posture up a bit straighter and experience the calmness that this brings, and carry that with you through the door and into the next part of your day.
The Challenge!
I dare you to take the doorknob sanity test. Choose a time-frame, a day or week and every time you put your hand on a doorknob do one of these mini meditations…. You never know you just might find that like in the picture for this post the light CAN shine from a doorknob!
creative commons image in this post by Dospaz
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Will do. On April 2nd or 3rd, you’ll get a pingback when I talk about the habit.
thanks Steve.
Love this Mick. I am currently develop a similar technique by linking the action of me pressing my thumb in to my finger as a way to make me feel more confident.
If you can repeatedly do the action and every time you do link it to thoughts or emotions that make you feel better then you’re subconscious will permanently link the two together.
Ahh a classic NLP trigger technique.. there are so many ways to anchor and trigger a better state of mind aren’t there!
Thanks Ben
Nice little challenge here Mick. I definitely think that if one does take the challenge and do so seriously it could produce some positive results. I’m sure there’s many times in past reaches I could say I wished I’d used this and thought first b4 going through a few doors.
There a probably a few doors that we all regret opening, and this challenge definitely helps you think about getting things right when you do open them.. good luck with the challenge!
OMG, I think I would go insane if I did that on every doorknob.
Seriously though, this was a very interesting read. It’s almost like the anchoring technique used in NLP to get you to associate a positive emotion with a neutral object.
I think I might give this one a whirl…maybe it’ll produce a calmer more zen-like state.
Thanks Steve, I’d be interested to know how you go… try it for day and let me know.. then up it to a week!
I’m thinking about doing something like this for my April “30 Day Challenge.” Would be nice to proactively seek positivity in my life. Will link back to this article I decide to do this.
Thanks Steve, this is a really interesting challenge, it is amazing how much you figure it is going on in your head, even if you are just pausing for a few seconds continually throughout the day.
I look forward to hearing if you decide to go ahead with this for you April 30 day challenge.
It’s important to take stock now and again, next time you open that door, think about where it leads
…..and you will be amazed at the difference that happens on the other side!
Interesting, and right! I will take the challenge for sure maybe not with the door knob but definetly take time out even 10 minutes a day to really see where I am at. Thanks.
Good on you for accepting the challenge! Any task that helps you with mindfulness and a brief pause will be a big help
Mick,
What a great idea; I don’t suppose it has to be a door knob. It could be anything you touch or do on a regular and daily basis. Thanks for bring the idea to my attention.
Regards
Paul
That’s true Paul, it could be any activity that happens regularly, as long as you work on being aware of when it is happening and make that pause.
Interesting concept… Think the only time I ever actually use doors (the rest of the time they’re open) are when going into the livingroom (rare) or at college (where its really not a great idea to stop lol). Still, looks like it might work.
Hi heather, you could choose anything else that is a regular part of your day..as you sit down before the start of each lesson at college, each time you go to have a drink…..