Engagement – being in the moment

I am back to discussing the anacronym, PERMA. Yesterday I discussed the initial letter which is concerned with personal enjoyment. Today I am considering Engagement. This concept is closely linked to ideas of flow or being in the moment. It is when we engage with something to the exclusion of everything else.

On the one hand this may sound inappropriate as though we are ignoring those around us. However, we spend much of our lives engaging with multiple things at once. It is actually good for us to become so engaged in something that we are untroubled by what is going on around us and we are fully occupied by what we are doing.

I have found that the less time that I spend with the computer the less time that I want to spend with it. I find ways of avoiding tasks if I can. I knew though that I needed to update both my Airbnb listings and my website. So today I had to climb up to the top floor and get on with it. After a while I found that I was immersed with the task. I lost track of time as I focussed on uploading photographs and changing descriptions.

<div class="airbnb-embed-frame" data-id="49821105" data-view="home" style="width:450px;height:300px;margin:auto"><a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/49821105?guests=1&adults=1&s=66&source=embed_widget">View On Airbnb</a><a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/49821105?guests=1&adults=1&s=66&source=embed_widget" rel="nofollow">Grande Couchette, Private room 4 bunks</a><script async="" src="https://www.airbnb.com/embeddable/airbnb_jssdk"></script></div>

The above is one of the updated listings. I feel that it looks better, I hope that you agree. So, it would seem that it is possible to develop a state of engagement even when the task is something that initially you don’t wish to look at. I felt a sense of achievement when I had finished.

If you want to increase your level of engagement and at the same time enhance your mental health and well-being, you can consider some of the following:

• Try to participate in activities that you really love, where you can lose track of time.
• Practice living in the moment, even during daily activities or mundane tasks, so that they are your entire focus.
• Spend time in nature, watching, listening, and observing what happens around you.

This evening I need to begin putting together some things for tomorrow’s teaching session. I plan to take a variety of things that I have made over the last two years to demonstrate that it can be done. I will also be putting together hooks, yarns and activities to get the participants started on their crochet journey.

Until tomorrow …