How to find calm in the most stressful moment

Today you ran for your train.

Head down, eyes on the clock.

And yet there was so much beauty all around you.

You just didn't see it.

This isn't a reproach.

Almost everyone does it.

When you're stressed, your perception narrows.

Cortisol and adrenaline levels rise.

You "go" into tunnel vision, blocking out everything else.

In the wild, this is vital for survival.

In everyday life, it makes you blind to the good right in front of your nose.

There's a small exercise that addresses exactly this.

Take a photo every day of something you almost would have missed.

A ray of light on the table.

A pattern in the snow.

A detail on a façade.

That's all it takes.

The trick isn't in the photo.

It's in searching.

Because to find beauty, you have to pause for a moment.

You step out of the hustle and bustle for a moment.

And that exact moment is restorative for your nervous system.

This isn't esotericism.

Researchers at the University of Berkeley measured something astonishing.

Of all the positive emotions, one was particularly strongly associated with low levels of inflammation.

Awe.

People who often experienced awe had lower levels of interleukin-6 (an important inflammatory messenger in the body).

And chronic inflammation is stress for your metabolism.

It consumes energy that you otherwise lack.

A second study followed people who took a photo every day for a year.

The result was clear.

The short pause to look around did them good.

In the middle of their most stressful day, they found a moment of peace.

And then comes the best part.

At the end of the year, you look back.

You have three hundred and sixty-five small pieces of evidence that your year was full of beautiful moments.

Your brain often remembers the negative most strongly.

Your photos counter that.

They tell a different, truer story.

Start today.

One photo.

One moment.

An eye for the beauty you almost would have missed.

Warm regards

Your Raw Animal Team