Woohoo, meeting all BGC’s relatives at the wedding went A ok, I felt very at ease, apart from needing to grip onto Bloody Good Chap so I could balance on the back of my heels because my feet were so sore from spending the day at such an unknown angle. And I walked 20 mins home in bare feet, classy.
I was pretty quiet most of the night, I didn’t get asked many questions, so I didn’t feel the need to try to prove myself,
thank god.
In the past I would have worried that people would think I was boring and I’d have tried to come up with genius things to say to fill silences (but inevitably failing and sounding like a try-hard), but instead I just asked lots of questions of everyone I met and didn’t worry if we fell silent when I ran out of questions from my small-talk repertoire. Which isn’t very extensive.
I prefer to talk about the meaning of life, and, would you believe it, mindfulness and self development,
which isn’t the ideal opening line when meeting people for the first time. People tend to look at me very peculiarly when I start with “So, what do you think is the meaning of your life” (which I have done a few times). I did try to explain mindfulness to a very intellectual chap who didn’t believe me that he and his mind are not the same thing. I’d had a lot of wine and he’d had a lot of whisky and espresso martinis, so I’m pretty sure none of it was particularly logical anyway.
When I learnt mindfulness I used to throw myself into awkward/ scary social situations to practice staying calm and acting normal while surrounded by people I didn’t know without freaking out and running away.
I went to many events on my own and practiced my mindfulness techniques while often being the only person at the event who knew no one.
I made some amazing friends from doing so.
Interestingly at the wedding though, I didn’t find myself needing to use any of my techniques to calm myself down. Calm in social situations has apparently become a new normal for me, my body has stopped having those automatic stress reactions every time I face a similar situation. Though a few glasses of wine didn’t go amiss. Which just goes to show – this mindfulness shiz works!
Initially you have to practice all the techniques that I teach in Bloody Good Life 101 on a daily basis to get yourself used to using your new tools. But after repeated practice, they just become part of your daily routine, like turning off light switches in your house, you do it automatically without even noticing.
What you do notice though, is how much easier life is when you’re not stressing out about what other people think!
What you do notice though, is how much easier life is when you’re not stressing out about what other people think!
Keen to learn some of these techniques in our LIVE group, D.I.Y. or 1-1 programs? Check this out.
PS We had some better photos in front of the original Mad Max car, but a fly kept coming and landing on BGC’s face (now I understand the need for those cork hats in country Australia), so in all the photos he’s making weird blowing faces that look like a failed Blue Steel.
