Resist the Impulse

As a writer, you try to understand the power of words. Words become powerful when they are combined in short, pointed phrases or sentences that are easy to remember.

I've worked for over 10 years as a copywriter in advertising and developed many slogans for big multi-national brands and entrepreneurs worldwide. I did it for the sole reason to install a brand image in the consumers' mind and convince them to take action and buy a particular product or service.

But long before the advertising industry discovered the power of slogans or quotes almost all cultures and religions used slogans as tools to spread wisdom.

The power of a slogan is when you contemplate it, it becomes more than just words, over time it will become an experience and will change your viewpoint, your psychology, and can support your mindset and emotional well-being.

From time to time I will share some slogans that I find inspiring and helpful, some of them I've created myself and some others I read in books or heard from others.

The first slogan I want to share:

Resist the Impulse!

The average person is exposed to thousands of impulses per day. There are the obvious external ones, like text messages, news, emails, on- and offline ads, and so forth. Then there are the internal, more primal ones. I won't mention the impulses to eat, drink, sleep, and all the issues that come with it. There's an entire billion dollar industry that caters to the management and mastery of these.

I want to focus more on the emotionally loaded, digital impulses that are harder to be aware of such as continually picking up your devices (the average person picks up their phone more than 50 times per day). If we're honest, we do this to fill any open, empty space in your mind that might bring up scary feelings of loneliness, lack of self-worth, boredom, to mention a few. This is why digital detox, dopamine fasts, and digital well-being is becoming more and more popular. People are looking for solutions to feel better.

One reason to meditate and become more mindful is first to become more and more aware of internal impulses that drive specific actions. That awareness over time will short moments of mental freedom, you could call it a Gap.

The most powerful tool in my opinion to manage your impulses is the breath combined with somatic body awareness.

Over time the meditation and mind training will enable you to become aware of the impulse but not immediately react to it. That's huge! What that basically means is, that you have a split second before you act. You will become more and more mindful and can choose what you say or do.

How to work with your breath?

If you Google "Breathing Meditation" because you want to learn to meditate or be more in control of your breath, you will find thousands of results, ranging from Ujjayi Breathing, used mostly in yoga practices, to Box Breathing, used by the Navy Seals. Each of them has its benefits and can be used in different situations.

Learning to breathe correctly is no rocket science, but it takes commitment and most importantly awareness. Our consciousness and thoughts ride on the flow of our breath. You can notice it when you focus on your breathing in a stressful situation. You will find that your breath is shallow, short, and in your upper chest. You have a lot of thoughts flying all over the place. If you do the same while relaxed, you notice that your breath is much slower, deeper, and located in your lower belly. You will notice that you have fewer thoughts and they are not that fast.

The primary goal for learning to breathe properly is to develop a go-to habit that you can fall back on when you notice strong impulses are coming up. Instead of getting carried away by them, you will be able to take control of your breathing, raise your awareness, and create a short gap before you react.

A short breathing exercise.

You can do this exercise sitting up in meditation posture or by laying on an even surface, like your bedroom floor, on your back.

Step 1:
Breathe into your lower belly. The first step in learning how to breathe correctly is by bringing the breath down into your lower belly. Set yourself a number of breaths you want to use for each breathing segment. A good recommendation is either 7, 10, 12 breaths for example. Start by exhaling and breathe fully out. Then breathe slowly in through your nose and bring your breathe all the way down to your belly. Use a little but not too much force. Pause for a short moment and let the breath naturally expel from your belly. Repeat the breathing set for as many times as you want.

Step 2:
Feel your body. The second step is to connect with your body. You can choose for example one body part and try to feel it. Start with your foot or your big toe for example. Try to explore how that body part feels. Tight or tense? Try to bring your awareness into the body part. Try to breathe into that body part and try to release the tension that you experience. You breathe into the body part and during the exhalation let the breath, and tension dissipate into the earth below you.

Step 3:
If  you feel like a specific impulse carries you away during the day, stop for a second, and use this opportunity to take a couple minutes and work with your breath. Do one set of breaths and see how you feel after. After doing this for a couple weeks, you will notice an increased awareness towards the impulse, and you will feel that you have a tool to work with it.

This recommendation is by no means complete, it should serve as a little inspiration to start noticing what's going on during the day with your mind and breath, specifically when you grab your device to fill any open space ;-). Try doing this for 5-10 minutes per day to develop a good habit and increase your mindfulness.

If you want to learn more and go more in-depth, check out our Meditation app Mindworks. You can find a lot of good guided meditation programs and content in this app. Also check our blog on the benefits of a digital detox for more information.