Taking time to enjoy, rather than endure, life

Mindset Coaching
Written By Lauren Barber

Hello, you beautiful soul!

Here’s this week’s Friday Feels! Snippets from my world of coaching, meditation and breathwork – with the intention to share information that brings joy, wonder and self-reflection.

1. Song of the week

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson (Listen on Spotify or look at how smooth Jackie looks on YouTube)

I played this song at the end of breathwork sessions this week. It gave me a serious nostalgia twang for a childhood film I still love (you know which one it is!!)

This song truly does lift you higher! 🤩

2. Quote of the week

“Be in the world but not of it.”

This is a quote I keep coming back to. OK, so I am in this world RIGHT NOW. I am here. What parts of life do I resonate with? And where is there resistance? If we don’t like what we see in the world and try to ignore it or push it away, we create a mental and emotional tension. And we’re not fully embracing life, we’re not being HERE in the world – we’re rejecting it for some other fantasy. Like it or lump it, we’re here NOW. In this 😵‍💫

So how does one be ‘in’ the world but not ‘of’ it? I try to strike a balance between being an active participant in the world – focusing on what is meaningful to me and creating a life that is joyful and fulfilling. I enjoy the thought experiment that perhaps my soul chose this time and place for a reason. So if I CHOSE my parents and this specific point in history, how might that shift how I feel about my life, what’s happened in the past and what’s happening right now?

But that’s just what I think! What does “be in the world but not of it” mean to YOU? 🤔

3. Practice of the week

7-year cycles!

Have you ever written an autobiography? During my breathwork training, I was invited to write a short biography and document key life experiences. Except this was to be broken down into seven year cycles. Ages: 0-7, 7-14, 14-21, 21-28, 28-35 etc.

It was a really interesting experience and I also reached out to family to help me make sense of my age 0-7 where I couldn’t remember.

It is fascinating to reflect on developmental psychology to understand how our brains and bodies change during these life stages. Equally, noticing the cultural expectations at each stage of life as well. The 7-year cycles are broken out in a really clear way in this excellent article (definitely worth bookmarking/coming back to).

I would warmly encourage you to give documenting your 7-year cycles a go. Particularly with certain family members still alive. For example, if you’re able to ask your mother about her pregnancy experience and birth, that can be very powerful. I realise this can be quite triggering for various reasons. So go gently with yourself!🙏

4. Teaching of the week

If you could ask someone who’s over 100 years old what is a life well lived, what would they say?

Check out life lessons from 101-year old Roselio Muniz in this super charming 5-minute video!
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*Spoiler alert*: Roselio has a daily smoothie for breakfast, and cites how vegetarians live longer on average. He encourages you to embrace the power of forgiveness! Other habits are exercise daily, read every day, find community and give praise regularly. Embrace joy in simple pleasures like walking on dewy grass. Can you be so curious about the world? “Guess what I found out today!”. Overall, love living and love your family. And LIVE FOR TODAY – not tomorrow, live fully for today! Such uplifting and simple advice. Lots I can relate to! 😍

5. Client win of the week

“Life is to be enjoyed not endured.”

A client chuckled as she exclaimed these words on our call. She reached out for coaching after experiencing panic attacks and intense burnout. The last two years had really taken their toll. And yet she also realised that this was a helpful low point. It was forcing her to look deeply at herself. She could see how she habitually gave so much of herself to others and in doing so, neglected her own needs. She was recovering well and was now ready to dig into the causes behind that intense melt down.

Life IS meant to be enjoyed! And knowing how to work with your thoughts and beliefs, your triggers and trauma means you can learn how to surf the waves of life rather than get dragged down by them. It’s so important we learn to fill our own cup first! And I’m so proud of her for taking action and investing in her own healing and growth 🙌

As per the Quote of the Week and being in the world, I am taking part in a fundraiser for Ukraine. I’ve teamed with EATMCR along with other local businesses and entrepreneurs to ask for donations.

What I love is how humans come together in a crisis to help each other! And here’s one way YOU can help! Your donation will buy you a raffle ticket, with prizes including breathwork and coaching sessions with me!

​Find out more about the Ukraine fundraiser here on Instagram.

And here some other upcoming events that I’m super excited to be hosting, and that I’d love you to get involved in:

That’s it for this week. I’m off to go visit the trees I planted and see how they’re doing 😊

That’s it for this week’s Friday Feels! Mmmmwha!

Big love,

Briony x

​​P.S. What is this Friday Feels post about? In case you’re reading this for the first time (hello!), I post a weekly blog with snippets from my world of coaching, meditation and breathwork. My intention is to share useful, joyful or interesting tidbits, which may serve you in some way 🙏 I am grateful we’re connected – thank you for your time + presence x

Lauren Barber https://www.laurenbarber.co
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