wellness
40 CalmMoment.comW
hen was the last time you ‘popped
in’ to see someone without texting
them first? Or went out with
friends for a spur-of-the-moment
lunch date that hadn’t been in the
diary for three weeks?
In today’s busy, technology-driven society,
spontaneity seems to have gone out the window. We
have apps to tell us exactly which route to take,
synced calendars that keep us up to date with our
family plans, and instant communication methods that
allow our friends to tell us exactly what they’ve got
going on that day. But although this means we can be
more prepared and efficient with our free time, this
level of organisation is not always good for our
emotional wellbeing. Research suggests that being too
busy can stifle our creativity, while a jam-packed
calendar can cause stress and anxiety.
“To plan and strategise is necessary, but you can
take it too far,” explains coach and mindfulness
consultant Alison Callan, co-author of You Are Meant
For More. “When you have too much of a rigid routine,
you can feel really constricted. You’re not open to new
experiences that don’t align with your plan, even
though they could be very enriching. When we look
for opportunities, we rarely miss them, but when
we are stuck in our blinkered view of life-by-diary
only, we ignore the wonders of the world and what
might pop up.”
Being open to spontaneous events and allowing our
mind time to reflect on things, rather than rushing
from one planned activity to the next, can be very
beneficial for our emotional health.
“For me, there are two specific positive effects on
our minds from doing things spontaneously,” says life
coach Naomi Light. “One is that it fires up the kind of
thinking that produces creativity and enhances ouremotional intelligence and intuition. With regular
exposure to novel experiences we are better at
‘free-associating’, which improves our ability to
problem solve.
“The other is that spontaneity is about surprise,”
she adds. “The emotion of surprise is useful
therapeutically (so long as it is a good surprise) as
it can switch our brains into the positive connector
emotions of trust, love and joy. These, in turn, will
trigger the production of the happy hormones we hear
so much about.”
Alison agrees. For her, embracing spontaneity
allows us to tap into the sense of awe and curiosity
we have when we’re younger and enables us to really
experience the richness of life around us.
“As children we are spontaneous,” she says. “We
have routines, but we also have imagination, time is
a mystery and we are always seeking the unknown.
This enables us to truly explore the world. As adults,
however, we have everything planned. We think we
know what to expect from the world around us,Naomi Light
Naomi is a life coach who
lives in Hampshire, UK with her
husband and three children. She
supports people to realise their
inner strength and overcome
challenges in their lives. For more
information visit naomilight.com