Songs, poems, posters all remind us to “Stop and Smell the Roses”, but we don’t stop often enough, why is that? Here is one view as to why the roses don’t get sniffed enough; what we focus upon is most often what we view as a threat to us.” Now this seems to make perfect sense doesn’t it? What does not hold a certain degree of danger to ourselves or our loved ones gets overlooked. We must face those threats and diffuse them.
To actually stop and smell the roses, we must first be in a mental state where we can let our guard down and enjoy all the beauty around us. When we are in a “fight or flight” mode, it doesn’t matter how many roses are around us, or how many loving smiles there are for us, or how much love someone wants to share with us just because we are who we are.
Something has to change in our lives to allow us to get out of the fight or flight mode, and often it is simply realizing we are indeed in fight or flight. Are you there right now? Have you ever been there? Then you know this is not something which can just end, bang, pow, over. It takes practice, it takes rearranging how we are thinking to realize there is so much more support and love for us in this world than there are threats.
If the reminder to “stop and smell the roses” makes you bristle with anger and dismissiveness, you are in fight or flight. As with all of the IN-powerment work I lead for myself and others, the first step is becoming aware of what we are doing, then realizing the toll it takes on us, then asking if it is worth while to continue doing the same thing. It’s a journey. Please come along with me as we walk this path of IN-powerment together. I recommend the following books as a starter:
