The Secret of a happy(ier) life : RESILIENCE

Last January, I've traveled through Australia and visited the amazing  Blue Mountains. The slate-blue haze that gives the mountains their name comes from a fine mist of oil exuded by the huge Eucalyptus trees that form a dense canopy across the landscape.
What I've learned is that Eucalyptus are one of the most resilient trees as it can grow back leaves only within 48 hours after being completely burnt! Isn't amazing? 48 hours !
I remember telling myself that one of my 2016 resolutions would be to learn to become as resilient as an Eucalyptus! Little did I know that it is scientifically proven that our human body actually stores emotions -  physiologically speaking - for only 90 seconds. Yep, you read well, 90 seconds. Now, I do hear you say : "well, when I get angry, it surely lasts more than 90 seconds!"... Sorry to say that if it does last longer than 90 seconds, it's because you choose to. It is actually our brain and the choice we make once the emotional trigger hits that will determine how we feel. We can either decide to let our thoughts escalate to a more frenzied state or down talk ourselves into a calm state. Honestly, I was blown away when I read about it. You can read more about this in Jill Bolte Taylor's book on how she discovered the brain's functioning after she suffered a stroke. She's talking about it with Oprah, here. Here's what she discovered:

"When a person has a reaction to something in their environment, there’s a 90 second chemical process that happens in the body; after that, any remaining emotional response is just the person choosing to stay in that emotional loop. Something happens in the external world and chemicals are flushed through your body which puts it on full alert. For those chemicals to totally flush out of the body it takes less than 90 seconds.

This means that for 90 seconds you can watch the process happening, you can feel it happening, and then you can watch it go away.

After that, if you continue to feel fear, anger, and so on, you need to look at the thoughts that you’re thinking that are re-stimulating the circuitry that is resulting in you having this physiological response over and over again."

NOW, isn't this a-ma-zing ? So here's a secret to a happier life : 90 seconds of ...patience! #2016goals

Spring is just around the corner, I think it is a great opportunity for us to do a little "spring cleaning" in our mind. As a baha'i, I will also celebrate Naw-Ruz, the beginning of a New Year with new resolutions!

Film photos are shot on Mamiya 645 AFD with Portra 400 | Dev and Scans by Carmencita Film Lab