Are you feeling overwhelmed this Holiday Season?
Are you overcome with loneliness?
Maybe reflecting on the fact that a year has gone by and nothing notable has changed… or everything has.
I have a thought for you. Everything can change
In two seconds.
Yes quite often that line is used to highlight something bad that has happened but I’m going to ask you to reframe it right now.
What if we divided our day into two second slots?
Yesterday I was in Hoboken and, after attending a church service where my daughter was featured on video, we went to brunch. As we entered the restaurant, I was focused on the hostess and where she was bringing us to be seated.
In those 10 seconds I missed five two second increments where I could have looked to the left or to the right and made eye contact with probably a half a dozen people.
But I didn’t….
I focused on the hostess then to the table she was leading us to and made a B-line for my chair.
That was an opportunity missed to allow an interaction that could have changed my life or someone else’s. Someone could have been struggling and needed an instant of eye contact and a smile to feel valued again. As simple as that.
Nothing requiring any additional effort than a smile and a look.
According to an article in Study.com on sensory memory “within two seconds, our brain can process more complex information, integrate multiple sensory inputs, and form a more comprehensive understanding of a scene or event compared to the information processed within a single second. Within one second, you might recognize a general feature like the shape of a person’s nose. Within two seconds, you might recall their name, their relationship to you, and other details about them. “
So two seconds.
What is my point? Quite often we tell ourselves or others when we are overwhelmed that we need to be present That we need to live in the “now”.
But we don’t put parameters on the “now”.
For a lot of us our “now” consists of a panoramic or wide angle lens view of our current situation.
Our apartment
Our relationship
Our financial situation
These all get factored into our “now” which doesn’t necessarily provide a calm and relaxed feel.
The intention is good but it misses the mark.
What if we break down the “now”… into two seconds?
Right now I’m sitting in a chair writing this article.
Right now I’m breathing into this moment.
Right now I’m taking two seconds to look around and notice the room I am in.
Right now I will notice who is walking toward me and smile.
Right now I will focus on my two steps I walk ….
then the next two
and the next two.
Two seconds.
It could allow you to walk 3 miles without even realizing it.
Back in 2019, as I was researching resilience, I interviewed Greg Galeazzi. I had seen his interview on ABC and was astounded by his resilience. Greg was severely injured in Afghanistan, and was attending medical school in Boston at the he agreed to meet with me.
As a double amputee he stood as tall as anyone I had ever met!
At one point during the interview he relayed a point in his training where he had made it almost to the end of his rigorous training and had to start all over again. He said at that point, the only way he made it through, was to focus on three trees at a time….Just three. As he passed the three he would look at the next three. Then the next three. And so on …he didn’t try to look at the whole picture and his “now” consisted of three trees at a time.
Taking life or challenges in increments can allow us the resilience to get through the day.
Two seconds.
So, two seconds into this article you didn’t know me. If you’ve read this far… you now do. If it’s left an impact –
That’s the power of two seconds.
Sincerely,
Deborah Marini, MA
Owner/The Awareness Impact
MA Human Behavioral Psychology
Certified NLP Practitioner
Certified Reiki II
Certified Resilience training UPenn
Achieved Certification as MHFA Trainer
“Awareness is the Key To Understanding”