The Art of Absorbing: How to Soak Positivity like a Sponge

One day while sitting at my veranda, I realised how many good moments I have cherished, wherein I wasn’t doing anything special. But was only gazing at the heart of nature with big beady eyes like a toddler, and was quietly soaking the positivity like a sponge.
 
Such moments have now become a memory in which I like to go back and forth, especially during times, when I feel a little low, and demotivated in life.

I remember those moments like other moments, that I spent doing outdoor activities that gave me a sudden rush of dopamine.

Such blissful moments are pressed in my memory, and whenever I go back in time, and think about it. I can recollect the feelings, that I had back then, and feel it trickle down my soul casting a soothing spell on my body and mind. 

One such idyllic moment that happened a couple of weeks ago inspired me, and gave me a boost of creativity. Which I want to share with you, so you can absorb the positivity around you like a sponge.

So here’s an account of it…

A couple of weeks ago, when I was sitting restlessly on my lawn chair working with feverish haste. I saw a precious little honey bee searching for nectar in the flowers decorating my garden. 

I was carefully watching it dive into the cosmos flower, and making agile movements to gather pollens around her fuzzy legs.

This picturesque view took me back into time, when last year while surfing the internet, I found a picture of a cute bumble bee clasping pollen around her legs, and safely tucking it in her pollen basket present around the hind legs. 

I was astounded to see the picture. Being a nature fanatic, I was smiling with glee, thinking how resplendent and creative our mother nature is.

When I learnt this new fact, I wished I could see a bee fleeing with a pollen swaddled in her pollen basket.

Fortunately, my wish came, and a few weeks back, when I was sunbathing on my lawn. I saw a doting honeybee pushing its tiny body into the cosmos flower, and getting drenched in pollens. The dexterous bee didn’t stop or was intimidated by my presence as it continued mining for quality pollens.

I was exhilarated by the experience, as the entire time my eyes were glued on the little being, who was fulfilling her duty like a queen. 

Whenever, I see or learn something new about nature, I feel ecstatic, and grateful for being provided all the necessary tools to cherish it— like sense of vision, sense of touch, and smell.

Soon it dawned upon me, how lucky I am to witness such beauty, as I have eyes to see such Elysian beauty surrounding me.

Suddenly I was hit by a bout of creativity which inspired me to write this piece. So I could share with others, how they can soak the positivity around them, and use it to create art, and motivate themselves to do and feel better.

The Art of Absorbing Nature:

Don’t get confused I didn’t make any spell error by writing ‘absorbing’ instead of ‘observing.’ I intentionally am emphasising on absorbing because to absorb something means to allow the energy to enter inside, and stay there with your permission.

Unlike other processes that stops when you stop practising them, it doesn’t stop or end. It continues inside with your will, and you get to experience what lies underneath, the calm, soft and gentler side of yours, that gets overshadowed because of our instincts to survive.

When you let loose yourself to be in synchronicity with nature, you connect your energy with the mood of nature.

A bright sunny day with birds cooing can give you immense positivity, and has the potential to elevate your mood only if you absorb its positivity, and imbibe its quality. So let’s learn the art of absorbing, and how you can soak positivity around you like a sponge.

How to soak Positivity like a Sponge

Immerse yourself in the mood of nature to develop positive emotions:

Emulate the energy of your surrounding by dunking yourself in the present, which you can do by allowing yourself to feel and mirror the same positive vibe that you are getting from nature.

When you will immerse yourself in nature watching your mind will detach itself from unproductive activities, and thoughts that hit your mind every millisecond.

This in turn will foster positive emotions and positive thinking which will multiply your happiness. Because positive thinking strengthens our physical and mental health, helps in maintaining healthy relationships, and improves our life in general.

A University of Michigan study, led by psychology professor Barbara Fredrickson, explored the importance of positive thinking and emotions on our experience of:

• Joy,
• Interest,
• Contentment, and
• Love.

These four positive emotions have a number of ripple effects on our behaviour.

Professor Fredrickson quoted:

“Joy sparks the urge to play, interest sparks the urge to explore, contentment sparks the urge to savour and integrate, and love sparks a recurring cycle of each of these urges within safe, close relationships.”

Therefore, keeping a positive mindset increases our resilience, and affects the way we deal with day-to-day problems. It also helps us to curb negative thoughts and emotions, which can skew our perspective, causing long-term damage to our confidence and self-esteem.

Get inspired from beautiful things present in nature:

Take inspiration from nature, make it your muse. There’s infinite beauty around you, which you must acknowledge by admiring its divine creation. 

Feel the warmth of the sun on your skin on a chilly winter day,  notice the kaleidoscopic colours painted around the sunken sun on a hot summer evening, and get enamoured by the hint of green spread across the valley in the peak of monsoon season. 

Watch the tiny creatures venturing into the most inaccessible places, or little sparrows collecting the best quality hay to build their nest. Observe every fold on the velvety rose and admire its beauty.

Engaging yourself in nature watching will pull you away from the things you keep worrying about on regular basis. It will help you to focus on possibilities rather than sulking on shortcomings.

When you wake up every day, you have two choices. You can either be positive or negative; an optimist or a pessimist. I choose to be an optimist. It’s all a matter of perspective.~ Harvey Mackay

So hone the art of getting inspired by nature, as it will uplift your mood by giving you a punch of positivity. 

Use nature to unleash your creativity:

Many of us wish we had the liberty, money, and time to backpack, and travel the world to get inspired and motivated to work hard. We keep making excuses to work on our goals and stick with our mediocre routine. When we can go out in nature and get a thrust of creativity for free.

How? by retreating towards the serenading woods and finding that lost connection in nature. The best thing about going into the wild is that, you don’t have to make any special efforts for it to be friends with you.

All you need to do is put your foot on the ground, and savour its natural bounty with awe. This will help you to built your connection with nature, and you can feel positivity hitting you like a meteor shower.

If you stay a lot indoors, just sit outside in your balcony, plant a garden for yourself, and soak its beauty. This will help you to unleash your creativity. 

When you start investing your time in doing calming activities such as gardening. It rejuvenates you, and you become childlike, you eagerly wait for your plants to flower or your crop to harvest.

When you wake up, and step outside, you don’t start playing negative thoughts on repeat. On the contrary, you start experiencing positive emotions, as your eyes meander around your garden, that has been planted by your own hands.

Sometimes idly sitting and watching the vegetation around you can be relaxing and therapeutic, which can give you creative inspiration. Because everything has its own importance if we maintain a balance between work and relaxing.

Adapt good qualities and habits from everybody you meet or see:

Humans are social beings even the most asocial beings amongst us cannot escape this social world. Because even if you don’t interact with people much, but one has to go out in public to work or run to the store for buying stuff.

It is during these little encounters with people around us, that we learn everybody is different. Some people are unbothered by trivial things, while others make a fuss about everything.

Therefore, whenever you meet or see someone always imbibe good qualities from them, even from those you dislike or get irritated by. Everybody has something to offer, and there is something good in every individual.

Maybe you know someone who is an energy vampire and every time you meet that person, they suck energy off of you. But you’ve noticed that person is a health junkie, has good eating habits and is always punctual.

So don’t waste that encounter with that person, and use it as an opportunity to learn something from it even if its a small encounter.

Practise kindness: 

Needless to say that having empathy for all helps us relate with other people and how they feel. Therefore, practising kindness and having empathy towards others, helps in building more positive relationships with friends, family and people we meet in life.

Practising kindness can strengthen your mental, emotional, and physical health. The study attested below will prove it.

Kindness releases the hormone oxytocin. According to Dr. David Hamilton, “oxytocin causes the release of a chemical called nitric oxide in blood vessels, which dilates (expands) the blood vessels. This reduces blood pressure and therefore oxytocin is known as a ‘cardioprotective’ hormone because it protects the heart (by lowering blood pressure).”

This is why when we do small acts of kindness we feel warm in our heart, and feel positive about that experience.

Here are six reasons why practising kindness is good for your health:

• Kindness eases stress and anxiety,
• Kindness keeps your heart healthy,
• Kindness prevents illness and increases your life span,
• Kindness releases oxytocin, the feel good hormones which uplifts your mood and reduces inflammation, which causes diseases such as diabetes, cancer, chronic pain, obesity and migraine.

Even little acts of kindness can trigger oxytocin’s release. So be kind to people and animals, leave the seat for older people, and be polite to everybody.

Spreading kindness will not only clean your aura but will make you feel good about yourself. When we love our self, we treat others well, and this is the secret sauce to a happy, hearty, and healthy life.

Positivity is an attractive quality harness it:

The way we project ourselves to others is a reflection of how we feel about us, and the way we perceive everything around us. Our brain is always working, and is literally creating our experience moment to moment.

When we say that having a positive attitude can recreate our reality, we are not using it as a metaphor but it’s a psychological fact. Positivity is infectious, it is one such quality that everybody wants in their life.

People who have a positive attitude have a great social life, they make friends easily, have better personal and professional relationships, and are mentally strong. Such people don’t get discouraged easily as they aren’t afraid of failing.

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.~ Dalai Lama

So harness positivity because it will help you to face difficult times. If you are someone who struggles to see things with optimism, then you can change it by practising meditation, daily writing, affirmations, and adding more play and exercise to your routine.

Incorporating these activities in your daily life will rewire your brain to stay focused on the positive aspects of your life.

Gratitude is the seed that sprouts positivity, sow it:

Gratitude is the foundation of positive thinking. This is why it is an important tenet in all philosophies, religions, and schools of thought, as everybody acknowledges its importance.

Appreciating little things as gifts of life allow us to perceive things with a positive mind-set, which helps us grow and become a better person.

When eating fruit, remember the one who planted it~ Vietnamese Proverb

So practise gratitude because the application of such positive attitude during tough times is the hallmark of resilience.

When you experience positivity don’t be defensive:

When you experience positivity from any source don’t be defensive, or tell yourself that you don’t deserve it, just soak it, and feel it in your bones.

Absorbing positivity will rejuvenate you and will motivate you to be more productive, and creative. So delete the negative, and accentuate the positive!

Let thy spirit be high in love. Namaste!

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