Even on our "lowest" days there's always a silver lining--tomorrow is a new day! Tomorrow is an opportunity to startover, press the reset button, begin anew, refresh... All too often when we feel like we are in a funk, fallen and can't get up, at our lowest of lows; we forget and neglect to see our blessings in life. This may sound like I wake up every day with birds chirping and sun shinning--fact is my life is far from a scene out of Cinderella! I am more of a morning person then a late night owl, but that's beside the point. I have my days where I'd just prefer pulling the covers over my head and spending the day there. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area so if you know it, you know that most mornings start with a dense fog with the chance of sun by noon--if we are lucky! But the point of this post is not about my local weather, but the importance of our attitude on life.
We need to be more accepting. More accepting of ourselves--the perfections and imperfections. More accepting of others--we are so quick to judge without knowing the whole story. Someone who just cut you off may have just experienced a death in the family, job loss, or emergency. Before you lay on your horn and end up only upsetting yourself, take a moment and think if it's really worth it. We need to be more accepting for our feelings. While not every day is "sunshine and butterflies" for me, I'm ok with that. Sure on those "Eeyore" days, it's a little bit harder to believe myself but I know that with each day comes a beginning and an end--therefore this too shall pass. In addition to, I know that it's those tougher days that helps me appreciate my happier ones. I'd have little to nothing to compare my ups if I had no downs. Being ok with the above happening in my life--sometimes--makes going thru them a little bit easier. It turns a perverbial flashlight on during my dark moments. It allows me to be ok with with feeling what I feel at that time.
Being positive is not a 24/7/365 requirement/need. You'd probably experience more frustration than anything else if you set that as your goal. Ah, but setting goals is key and setting realistic ones even more so! So set a goal of being positive about something--anything--at some point each day. Just like taking the time to allow yourself to feel what it is you are going through is important--keeping some positivity in your life helps too! It's an attitude of gratitude! On my hardest days it could be the simplest of things like gratitude for having the ability to get out of bed, my health, or a bed to sleep in. Anything works.
Communication~ The funny part about this for me is that I usually prefer to be a "hermit" when I'm having an "Eeyore" day. But when I say communication is key, I don't necessarily mean you need to surround yourself with people. Sometimes it's just posting a blog. It's easy to be social nowadays without actually physically socializing. Sometimes you need that outside influence to remind you that you are OK. You may just be OK, but OK is better than nothing. It's the reminder that whatever it is that you are battling internally, isn't the end of the world--even your's! For example, when I was down about my mom yesterday, I was reminded of all those other people out there who have tragecially lost a loved one--or are losing a loved one. While not having my mom around is hard, watching her suffer was harder. I pray for those who are going through that. The communication that I partake in allows me to reflect on my situation, feelings, emotions, state of being...they allow me to see that positive aspect of my life at that point in time. It that "a ha" moment...it allows you to refocus your focal point!
That's all I have for now. Someone may have just needed the reminder that my subject line reads, someone else may need an aspect of the content of my blog, or maybe I just needed to communicate what was going on for me. Either way, something positive came out of this post and for that, I am grateful!
