My Best Self - May

As our ‘My Best Self’ campaign continues, we are choosing a different mantra each month, to really understand what we can learn from it, and how to use it to change our mood and mindset.

This month, we have picked the mantra represented by our Hummingbird,

‘Seek the sweet moments in every day’.

This mantra is a brilliant reminder to look for the positives in life, and celebrate the small moments every day that contribute to creating happiness.There is plenty of research to show that a focus on noticing and appreciating the good things that happen in your day - rather than fixating on the negatives – will give you a happier and richer experience of life.

There are two famous quotes which strengthen this idea.

Helen Keller – a famous US educator – suffered an illness when she was just a year and a half old, which turned her deaf and blind. She succeeded in learning to communicate, and overcame many of the enormous difficulties of her condition, supported by her strong belief that if you ‘Keep your face to the sunshine, you will never see the shadows’.  She always focused on the positives in her life, not the negatives.

Another quote, often wrongly attributed to Abraham Lincoln, supports this focus on the positive: ‘We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses’. It was, in fact, written by Alphonse Karr, French author – but it is no less powerful for that!

The aim, then, is to notice and celebrate the positives in life.

Many people follow this activity with their children, asking them at the end of the day to tell them three good things that happened to them today. This practice encourages our minds to look for the upsides to life, rather than jumping straight to the things that have happened to frustrate or disappoint us.

Our mantra, ‘Seek the sweet moments in life’, is even more active: it is urging us to actively seek out moments of happiness and pleasure, rather than simply noticing them when they happen.

For me, this could mean taking a walk in the park in Leamington before coming into the office in the morning. Jephson Gardens is a beautiful part of the town, created in Victorian days to bring beauty, tranquillity and a space to take the air, in the middle of town. With a lake, fountains, and the River Leam running through, beautiful flowers, and a collection of heritage trees, it is a truly uplifting place to spend a few minutes before the working day starts.

One of my team always takes the long way round at lunchtime, just so she can walk past a lovely independent florist - Sarah Horne Flowers – so she can see all the beautiful blooms outside. Another colleague chooses a different uplifting playlist each morning when she gets dressed, to give her a happy boost in the morning.

There are so many things we can do, to bring moments of joy into our busy lives. In the scheme of things, you may not think that a few small moments will make a difference. But training yourself to seek out and savour these small moments of happiness primes your brain to notice these moments more and more.

It will give you a happier overall experience of life, as you actively notice and feel grateful for the sweet moments in each day.

Share your thoughts with us on this month’s mantra, and let us know what it means to you.

Say this inspiring mantra to yourself, to remind yourself to actively seek out moments that will bring you joy, happiness or, at the very least, a smile.

Wear our Hummingbird necklace, to give you a tangible reminder of it, every day.

Our ‘Seek the sweet moments in every day’ Hummingbird Necklace is 15% off this month.