Vibe Check

Vibe Check √

One of the Easiest Micro‑Blissiplines 

This month's Blissipline is "Vibe Check". 

To give you a little context:   For several years now we have been practicing a "monthly Blissipline". This gives you a chance to zoom in on one practice and develop your own personal skill on a tool that helps you be more in charge of your happiness and wellbeing.

This month, we're going back to basics to make sure you have the foundation for Blissipline.

This video, The Real Foundation of Happiness is a recording of our first live gathering of the month.  It explains the three areas you need to address to become happier and more empowered even before things in your life change.  Then it introduces the Vibe Check.

(Note:  If you learn better with a reference tool, you can access a timestamped guide and a transcript here.)

So what's a vibe check?

A vibe check is a tiny practice with outsized impact. It’s simple, quick, and you can do it anywhere, anytime. 

There are three steps.

Step 1.  First, just stop and ask yourself:  What’s my vibe right now?  Then really check and see what you notice. 

• Take a few moments to get curious and specific. 
• Notice what kind of thoughts you're having. 
• Notice what you're anticipating about your day. 
• Notice what kinds of feelings those thoughts bring up.

The word "vibe" is deliberately vague.  Asking "What's my vibe right now?" and taking time to explore the question helps you sense into the various aspects of your experience and get a specific picture of how you are right now. 

Here's the important piece:  If you actually DO THIS, and don't just think about it, it will open up a lot for you.

You see, this question is at the heart of Blissipline, because everything starts with knowing where you actually are.

It’s obvious, right?  If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know how to get to where you want to go.

If I want to travel to New York City from where I live, I have to get in my car and drive east. But if my brother wants to visit, he has to drive north. And if my sister wants to visit, she has to jump on a plane and head west.

Three different paths to the same place — because we’re starting in different places.

Your inner life works the same way.

To make Blissipline work, you start by clarifying where you are. Not where you wish you were, not where you think you “should” be — but the real emotional‑experiential territory you’re standing in right now. 

A vibe check is how you locate yourself.  That's the first point on our inner GPS.

Of course, then you need to know where you want to go, right?  So that's the next step:

Step 2.  Ask yourself, is this the vibe I want to have right now?  If yes, great!  If not, then what vibe would I like to have?

• Again, be specific.   
• I'd like to be... relaxed, unhurried, excited, curious, playful. 
• What is this moment calling for?

It's worth noting that in the context of Blissipline, it's always a move in the same direction:  toward a better feeling.

Better is one of those magical words.  It both means less crappy and more happy.

Less anxious, less frustrated, less overwhelmed, etc.

More interested, more relaxed, more delighted, etc.

So in step 2, we decide specifically what we would like our vibe to be, so that in step 3 we can take one small step in that direction.

Step 3.  Make a tiny shift in that direction.  

Here’s the wild thing: your nervous system can’t tell whether you’re feeling better because of something you’re doing, something you're observing, something you’re remembering, or something you’re imagining.

It just receives the signal and responds with feelings.

This is so cool, because it means that in any moment, you have four different avenues for shifting your vibe.

So in step 3, you can choose one of the following things to change, and then feel for the difference in your vibe.

• You can do something different.  Take a stretch.  Shake it off.  Take a quick walk.  Schedule what you're doing for later and shift tasks. There are infinite possibilities.  Just try something and pay attention to what happens in your vibe. 
• You can observe something different.  Move your attention to something you like.  The blue sky, a tree, an object you find beautiful.  If you have practiced mindful breathing, you might even be able to simply focus on the breath for a few seconds to begin to shift the vibe.
• You can remember something different.  Perhaps you can deliberately bring to mind a good memory.  Something that reminds you about something good in your life or in the world.  As you do, feel for the subtle changes in your vibe and follow and enhance them.
• You can imagine something different.  This arena is wide open!  You can literally imagine anything.  So you can deliberately say, "What if this things really works out?" and let your mind elaborate on something going really well.   Or you can simply imagine something you really like.  Pay attention and you can feel it shifting your vibe.

Making the Vibe Check your own

The thing to understand is this... you don't have to follow any specific directions for how to shift your vibe.  You don't need my suggestions.  You simply need to make a choice to try something, and watch how it affects your vibe.  It's an experiment, and you can adjust the parameters on it with real live feedback in the moment:

Is it working?  No?  Try something else.

Again, you just make a deliberate choice to (1) observe, (2) remember, (3) imagine or (4) do something different, and see how it affects your vibe.

None of these require a huge leap. They just require a tiny tilt — a  shift in attention, and then some follow through.  But they do require a small smidgen of discipline.  You have to actually DO IT. 

(This is why "Blissipline" is not just "Bliss".  It's actually a form of Bliss-Discipline. There is a step YOU have to take.  You have to make the decision to turn in the direction of bliss and try something out.  That turn is the discipline piece of it.)

What you will find is that learning how to make this small shift toward feeling better gets easier and easier, and it builds over time.

Feeling even a tiny bit better in the moment builds your knowledge of your own agency. And as you repeat it, this effect compounds. It becomes a new normal, a new set point, a new way your system learns to orient.

That’s why a vibe check is such a powerful micro‑practice. It’s not about forcing yourself into a better mood. It’s about noticing where you are, choosing a gentle shift, and letting that small shift accumulate into something powerful over time.

 💙 

Reality check!

Ok, my friend, so... Are you going to DO this?  (And remember: thinking about it is NOT doing it.)

If so, come and join us, and if you really want to make it work, share about your practice:

If you're already a Blissipline member, click here to post in our community chat. 

And if you're not yet a member, you're welcome to post in our Facebook group.

(BTW, Here's a video I made about my experience of practicing Vibe Check for the last few weeks.  It's really helping me!) 

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For information about The Blissipline Community, visit:  Blissipline.org