Presence - all your senses open here and now

Part three of the 3:5 day is presence. It is the last of the three basic elements and for many the most obscure and difficult. In contrast to diet and sleep, the topic presence often raises questions like: what is it really? how to do it? why is it good?

So, what is presence really? The short answer is: being actively present here and now. A little broader description: it is about focusing on what is going on in your life exactly here and now, and observing it with the senses, not through thoughts. In other words, meeting the moment with all our senses and an open mind.

And how to be present in practical life? Most important is to use the senses more. To register what happens through the day with the senses, instead of what is usual, with thoughts. The big difference between senses and thoughts is that senses only exist here and now, while thougths have three time dimensions: the past, the now and the future. And the challenge with thoughts is that they easily rush away in the past or the future, with a negative. This means that we think about troublesome things that has happened to us or we worry about what might happen. Also, thoughts usually flow constantly and in a repeating pattern. This is extremely stressful. And leads to unrest and lack of energy. The body is struggling. 

The second practical advice for more presence is to do only one thing at a time. Multi tasking may seem impressive, but it stresses the brain heavily. And this means reduced quality and lower effeciency. In addition to less presence. Therefore: concentrate on one thing and finish that before starting on the next.

The last advice it to practice presence. As for all changes to our own behaviour, we have to practice in order to get better. In our daily life, there are several situations that may be used as an place for practicing presence, for example: to eat (colour, taste, scent, texture), to shower (the sound of flowing water, water touching the skin, the heat, the scent), to walk (sounds, what you see, the sun, the wind or rain to the skin). There are so many possibiliites. In these situations, the key is to practice using alle our sences, instead of letting the thoughts flow while doing the activities without focus.

In additon, there are activities such as meditation and yoga which are about more presence in order to get more calmness and less stress. Daily meditation is golden for the brain.

Finally, why is more presence good for us? The first thing that happens with more presence is less thoughts. Our mind calms. This is very healthy, as it reduces the stress that comes from the endless flow of thoughts. Instead, one is filled with more inner calmness and silence, where one is more aware of what is going on here and now. Going more into depth. Feeling more alive. Getting more in contact with our body and our inner voice. With higher quality of everything we do and experience.

Most of us have probably some times in life experienced (short) moments when everyting is in harmony, where we have an intense feeling of joy or we are filled with a complete lightness and inner peace. This is pure presence. And this is what we should seek to have more of in our daily life.

Mr Eckhart Tolle, philosopher and author, describes brilliantly why presence is so vital for us, for example in the book A new Earth.

The book Nå (Now) by Michael de Vibe and Ragnar Karem may also be recommended as a very useful introduction to more presence in our daily life. 

Article no 4 - 7 September 2018

Sleep - because you need it

Part two of the 3:5 day is about something that we all know is so important for us in order to fix our daily life, but is really hard to get right as there are some many other things that must be done: sleep.

Good sleep is a compex topic, where several factors are in play. And it is so individual.

Here is some general advice from experts on sleep:

• Be aware that good sleep is crucial for the body (and especially the brain) to recover and be maintained after a busy day

• Be aware that sleep to a very large extent is influenced by choices made when being awake

• Be aware how good your own sleep is, both sleep quality and sleep rhytm 

• Give priority to better sleep through establishing routines for what to do and not to do when awake

Advice for higher sleep quality:

• Reduce activating the brain before going to sleep. This means no blue light; tv, pc, mobile. Instead, do relaxing activities, such as listening to quiet music and go for a slow walk. In addition, our thoughts greatly influences our sleep quality; try to let go of anxiety and worries before going to bed. For this there are several techniques, for example meditation. 

• No coffein or hard training late, shortly before going to bed

• A dark, cool and tidy bed room

• Get out of bed when not sleepy and get up when not being able to sleep. Only go to bed when sleepy, not when only being tired. Be aware of the important diffence between being sleepy and being tired 

• A healthy diet greatly improves sleep quality 

Advice for improved sleep rhytm:

• Be aware of the hours of sleep needed to be fully rested in the morning. This is very individual and is normally 6-9 hours per day. And more for children and youngsters than for adults.  

• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day, also during week ends. Especially getting up at the same time every day has a great and positive effect on sleep rhytm.

• Light treatment may be a very effective tool for controlling sleep rhytm, especially when it is dark outside at time of getting up in the morning.

The road to good sleep starts by being aware of how your sleep presently is. And then seriously give priority to good sleep and make the necessary changes. It is worth it, as good sleep together with a healthy diet is so important for our every day well being.

Article no 3 - 27 August 2018

Diet - your body's best friend

Previously, I have here described the so called 3:5 day, which is a guide to what we ought to have more of in our every day life, in order to get more well being, enery and meaning.

The 3:5 day has eight elements. In the coming weeks, I will give a short description of each of these elements. I will start with one of the basic elements and maybe the most important: the diet.

Our diet is very often more important than we believe. Science regularly confirms that there is a huge correlation between what we eat/drink and our well being, both physically and mentally. And that our diet increasingly can explain our diseases, also those spesifically connected to the brain. This is closely linked to the part of our body we have heard so much about recently: the intestine. It distributes the nutrients of our diet in our body. This affects all processes in the body. And the intestine is directly linked to the brain. Therefore: if you want physical and mental well being, the intestine must also be working well. This also means that if one wishes to make a personal change to the better, the diet is a very good place to start. And actually, it is not so extremy difficult.  

It is mostly about this:

• Awareness of own diet

• Give the body useful nutrients

• Replace negative with positive

• Make changes gradually, step by step

• Establish firm and simple routines.

What we ought to have more and less of, should be well known. More fish, vegetables, berries, fruit, healthy oil. Less refined sugar, salt, unhealthy fat, red meat. And it is very useful to assist the intestine with probiotic supplement. 

The challenge is probably more how we in our every day life shall get more of the "more" and less of the "less". A good place to start is replacing the bad food with the better, for example less refined sugar and more natural sweeteners (fruit, berries, honey) and less white bread and more whole wheat bread. And to introduce simple routines, for example: vegetables every day, fish at least twice a week, oat meal with fruit, berries and nuts for breakfast. This is not so difficult with some awareness. However, it is not easy to change old, well incorporated habits. It is therefore smart to make the changes step by step, change one thing at a time and accept that this will take some time. And not be too harsh on oneself in the starting period. After a while, this will be easier, when we feel the good effects and really want to be our body's best friend.

Obviously, there exist vast information on diet, personally I think Berit Nordstrand writes about this complex topic in her blog and books in a way that is quite easy to understand, especially on how to replace the bad with the good in our every day diet.

In reality, this is first of all about reducing the processed food and increasing the natural food prepared by oneself. And preferably ecological. This often requires some more work and is somewhat costlier, but the prize is huge. And what is more important than your own health?

Article no 2 - 17 August 2018

The 3:5 day

There is a large number of "recipies" on how to achieve happiness in life, or at least improve life quality. Unfortunately, a lot of these do not work well, as they require too large changes in everyday life. And, as we all know, changing our own habits and priorities is not easy.

My favourite is quite simple; it is rather easy to remember and also not too difficult to implement. It builds on findings from British researchers and health authorities a few years back, with some adjustments from my side.

I name it the 3:5 day and it works like this:

• First, there are three base foundations that should be in place

• Then, there are five good values that build on the base foundations

• Together, these represent a set of eight quality advices

The three base foundations are:

1. Diet - be your body's best friend

2. Sleep - because you need it

3. Presence - with all your senses open right here and now

And the five good values are:

1. Physical activity - remember the everyday activities

2. Do something with others - be social

3. Have some time for yourself - enjoy your own company

4. Do something for others - without expecting anything in return

5. Learn something new - activate your curiousity

The 3:5 day is a guide. It highlights what we should have MORE of in our everyday life. And with small steps in the right direction every day, we enter into an upward spiral. This gives energy, zest for life and happiness. And meaning. The good thing is also that this merely is a matter of adjustments of activities that we already have in our everyday life. We shall only do more of the good things. And it is the small steps that give the results. A small effort every day. Then a lot of positive things may happen.

Article no 1 - 17 June 2018