In case you were't inundated with enough Osheaga pics of me on the long weekend, I am here to talk about it some more. Naturally, I have a love for this festival, but it's not just for the music! In fact, most of the bands that played this year were bands I don't even really listen to. So, why go, you ask (aside from Metric/City and Colour)? Why spend $400 on a ticket? Why drive 7 hours? It's the culture of Osheaga. There are so few places in this world where you can go and feel "un"judged. Now, don't get me wrong, there was lots of "judging" going on by myself and my buddy, but it was more along the lines of just how amazing someone's outfit was. I actually found myself saying that my mindset has changed so much in the last few years, that I was either LOVING what they were wearing, or I simply didn't notice. Didn't notice, Meaghan? Well, that's bitchy. Let me tell you why it's not... old (young!) Meaghan would have been quick to pick apart someone's outfit, "Why are they wearing that? Ugly colour, it doesn't fit, what the FUCK were you thinking?" etc... and this year, legit, either I loved it or I didn't notice. I didn't pick apart one single outfit. Do you know how much PROGRESS that is for me? For my brain to (finally!) be trained in looking for the good!
I recently read a study that outlined how the brain works, and that one of its functions, in super simple terms, is to always be looking for situations in which you would end up dead. Sounds dramatic, but makes sense, right? Well, when your brain is constantly doing this, you are often constantly looking for the negative and over time, small things (such as someone's "ugly" outfit) is picked up by you as negative IF you allow it. I have trained my brain to stop this by refocusing on something else, or actually responding to my brain with "who cares what they are wearing?" and most importantly, "what they are wearing doesn't impact my life". This can be interchanged with many things such as to how a person looks, their personality, their set of skills, or lack thereof, etc...
Reading this over, I feel like some of you may find this silly, but the festival was really freeing for me. It took me a really long time to stop looking for the bad, and I believe it is intertwined with also learning that I am enough, just as I am.
So, try something. Keep track of how many times you look at someone and judge their appearance, their size, their clothing, etc... in one day. The next day, try reminding yourself "that person's ______ has no impact on my life" and see what happens!
Here are a couple articles I found that have to do with worrying/changing your thinking/brain function.
Worrying: https://www.quora.com/My-mind-is-always-looking-for-reason-to-worry-why-and-what-can-I-do-for-that
Brain Function: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180710-why-the-brain-always-finds-new-problems-and-threats
Changing the way you think: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201704/stuck-in-negative-thinking-it-could-be-your-brain
Have a super rest of the week!
xoxox.
M