How to feel heiter after a long day

A long day at work, traffic on the way home. You’re supposed to cook dinner when you get back and bring out the recycling too. I know, it’s exhausting and I can imagine that all you want to do is go to bed. Not so fast! Why? I believe we should make the most of the time that belongs to us, after all, it is what we work so hard for. Our time should be used to focus on the heiter side of life. The fact of the matter is that we only live once and it would be a shame to let life go by with negative thoughts or the feeling that we didn’t get anything out of it.

The first thing we need to do is to change our perspective.  Try revisiting points in your day and identifying what was good about it. Let’s give it a go:

-          Yes, your day at work was long but perhaps you learned something from the task you needed to do. Maybe the way you had to communicate your ideas in a meeting was great practice for pitching your future creative business.

-          Due to the traffic it took you 30 minutes longer to get home. It did however mean that you had those 30 minutes needed to listen to a great podcast. 

-          You’re supposed to cook dinner. Isn’t that great? Mindfully chopping the vegetables can be therapeutic and the good vitamins and minerals you’re feeding your body will bring you more energy.

-          You have to bring the recycling out. Yay to recycling! You can really make a difference and work towards a better world by joining in.

How did that feel? Did I manage to cheer you up a little? Good! If you need more Heiterkeit (cheerfulness) there are a few more things I can recommend.

-          Make yourself a soothing cup of tea.

-          Get some fresh air. If it’s a walk with your dog or some quiet time in the garden, a few minutes outside really can make a difference.

-          Have a bath. Essentials oils are always a good addition, or if you have a bit more time and all the ingredients try out the Calming Rose Bath by the lovely Becky Cole.

-          Listen to your favourite song(s).

-          Meditate, even if it’s only for a few minutes. I use an app for my daily mediation but you can of course do it without one too.

-          Phone someone you love and talk about a lovely memory the two of you share.

-          Write down three things you’re grateful for.

-          Light some candles, wrap yourself in a blanket and relax.

-          Read a poem or a good book before you go to sleep.

I hope this post helps you and makes it easier for you to find #heitermoments in your everyday life. Keep me posted on how you get on and if you have anything to add to the list above, let me know.

Be heiter!

Deutsche Version hier.

Words & images: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine

Why the world needs optimists

Optimism (noun): hopefulness and confidence about the future or the success of something (synonyms: hopefulness, hope, confidence, good cheer, cheerfulness, positive attitude)

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This is a love letter to the optimists of the world; the beautiful souls who are brave enough to choose to work for the best possible outcome despite terrible circumstances, to look outside of themselves and find meaning and beauty in the world in spite of potentially devastating heartbreak and loss.

Dear optimists, I believe that the world desperately needs more people like you, but it doesn’t always realise it. All too often, optimism and optimists are misunderstood. All too often, you’ll raise your hopeful offering to the world, only to be met with disdain and derision. In a world where cynicism is often confused with wisdom, assuming a world-weary attitude is the safer path; choosing a hopeful, optimistic outlook leaves your heart wide open and vulnerable to those who want to scorn you for standing out. It takes strength and courage to be optimistic.

Optimists are often accused of being naïve, unaware of evil, of living a sheltered and blessed kind of life. Optimism is often seen as a luxury that not everyone can afford. But in its truest form, optimism doesn’t mean always being happy, and it certainly doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to bad things. It’s not something you’re necessarily born with, or into, either. It’s a choice, and sometimes a daily battle, to stay open and receptive and keep looking outwards, to keep engaging proactively with the world instead of retreating inwards and strengthening the hard, protective walls you’ve built to try and shelter yourself from your fears.

I think A. J. Liebling was right when he said that “cynicism is often the shame-faced product of inexperience.” Some of the most famous optimists of the world are the very people who have endured the worst that life has to offer, living in Nazi concentration camps or in hiding and terror, like Viktor Frankl and Anne Frank. People who have achieved great and world-changing things, like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr., more often than not achieved what they did precisely because they had a dream, a sense of hope spurring them on to take action.

As Anne Frank said, “It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Or, as Nelson Mandela put it, “Part of being optimistic is keeping one's head pointed toward the sun, one's feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”

In Man’s Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl described how you could tell when a prisoner in the concentration camp was about to die, saying that the characteristic that united them was total despair and loss of hope: “The prisoner who had lost faith in the future—his future—was doomed… he let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay… He simply gave up.”

In other words, the world needs you, dear optimists, because your outlook is a powerful life-giving, world-changing force for good. Frankl’s theory of “tragic optimism” explains that optimism comes from the Latin word, optimum, which means “the best”. Through his experiences in concentration camps, Frankl became convinced of “the human capacity to creatively turn life’s negative aspects into something positive or constructive”, even in the face of great tragedy and horror.

We may not be able to change how we feel, and we certainly can’t force ourselves to be happy, but we don’t have to because that’s not what true optimism is about. What we can do, is to choose to change what we focus on, little by little, day by day. We look to you, courageous optimists of the world, to inspire us to find the #heitermoments in our every-day lives.

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Sophie Caldecott is a writer, Intuitive SEO coach, aspiring podcaster and founder of A Better Place Journal. She lives and works in the UK.

Image: tobetold