Finding "the gap". · Practical Mindfulness

Finding "the gap".

Once we’ve overcome being chronically stressed or depressed, and we’ve mentally passed the feeling of being “stuck”...

We then have the mental capacity to take our lives from good to great.

And the way we do this is by finding the gap.

If we’re feeling good most days, we’re doing something right.

We’re probably sleeping well, not mentally beating ourselves up, and probably have some stable, genuine social connections...

So what’s going to take our wellbeing to that next level?

That feeling where we’re excited to wake up every morning...

A good practice to identify this gap is what I’m going to call The Perfect Tuesday exercise...

This is where we sit down with a pen and paper, and write out the timetable of our perfect Tuesday.

This is different from our perfect day....

Our perfect day would probably consist of waking up on holiday, no real commitments, a cocktail with breakfast, etc...

The perfect Tuesday exercise is about identifying what our perfect, regular working weekday looks like...

What time do we wake up?

What does our morning routine look like?

What job do we do? And what hours do we attend work?

What activities do we do after work? And who do we do them with?

What does our wind-down routine look like? And what time do we go to bed?

The surprising thing about this exercise is that (assuming we’re already ok with our lives), our perfect day is typically not too far from our current routine.

There are usually one or two standout items in the timetable that we’re not giving enough energy to.

Maybe we’re always skipping the workout routine we’d love to implement, or not organising the social events that we’d love to experience on a regular basis.

Do the exercise, and “the gap” will likely become very obvious.

For some additional context of what this might look like, I’ve included my perfect Tuesday timetable below:

7:00: Wake up and get dressed.

7:15: Walk to morning yoga class.

7:30: Yoga.

8:30: Write and schedule this blog.

10:00: Walk home and shower.

10:30: Breakfast.

11:00: Downtime.

11:45: Walk to campus.

12:00: Uni work. (Lectures, essays, etc.)

16:45: Walk home.