My neighbor was over the other night and I was telling her how much I can't stand whining. From kids to adults...whining makes me crazy. I reread my post from yesterday and ugh, I sound like such a WHINER! Although, I was trying to find a vaguely honest way of telling everyone I'd be slacking on the blogging this week...I sounded way too emotional for my own good. haha.
Don't get me wrong, I've got some things going on, and I understand our feelings should be valid because they are based on our own personal experiences, but then I turn the world news on and all of the sudden my problems don't seem so big. I saw this clip of a woman weeping because she had just lost her home and her children in a natural disaster and this is after a lifetime of already having nothing. THAT is pain and sorrow. It gave me a quick shift in my perspective about things and in my entire attitude. I look over at my girls and realize that I've got is SO good. I quickly turned off the TV, shut my computer, turned on some fun music and started goofing off with the girls. We had a blast and we laughed A LOT and then we watched almost every single video of them I'd ever taken. Then they started fighting and driving me nuts and I put them to bed, haha. But for a couple hours, we just enjoyed life.
In yoga yesterday, our teacher had us do tree pose or something where we were all twisted up and I was about to fall over. When I'm focused I automatically resort to the tough and the dirty and the driven. I'm sure I had the ugliest look on my face and then she instructed us to SMILE. THAT was a first. I was thinking, "Besides the fact that I'm going to look like an idiot, I'm going to fall on my face and then look like a double idiot and then people won't have to fake their smiles because they'll all be laughing at me." At any rate, I forced a smile on my face...and my mood actually really began to change. I was sitting there pretending to be happy and all of the sudden I DID feel kind of happy.
Throughout the day yesterday, I'd catch myself pouting and then I'd tell myself to smile. Has anyone tried this? It totally works. Your spirits automatically lift. It's unnatural to smile when we are down so the thought never comes because is counter to reality. But you know what?! Sometimes we can't change truths that are objective, but we CAN change our subjective truths. When we can't change reality, we sometimes have to change our perspectives. It's all we can do. We have to learn how to look at things differently and alter our attitudes. Take Captive Every Thought, right? Just as positive actions are an exercise in discipline...so are our thoughts and attitudes. Just as we shouldn't binge and indulge in food or bad behavior, we should choose not to indulge in bad thoughts.
Believe it or not, I am actually a pessimist by nature. I like to excuse it as being a realist, but before my life really changed, I saw the negative in things. I was a melancholy and I was self destructive. A lot of that was due in part to being such a passionate person with a lot of wounds and no grasp on who I was or how to channel that passion. The past 5 yrs my life has dramatically changed and so has my heart, and I've discovered my passions and I love life, but my pessimism rears its ugly head in trying times and I have to learn how not to let it eat me alive. It's poison and it doesn't just hurt me but it hurts others as well.
I realize all of this is another rambling, but I felt it was important to bring attention to it. Our actions are a usually a direct reflection of our thoughts. Let's practice changing our attitudes. The only place you have to go from that point is up, right? You have nothing to lose when you choose to smile.
So...before you close this page, put a big smile on your face and go have an awesome day. Let's laugh a little. it's going to be OKAY!!!
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