Good morning, everyone. Yes, it is morning. (I used periods as it's too early to get too excited.) It’s the Friday after a busy week of Fourth of July festivities and cramming four days of work into two – due to taking two days off for the festivities. I hope you all have a fantastic day!!!! (Oops, I must have transitioned into the exciting part of the day just this moment! I better get going on my blog before I lose it...or I forget, as my rememberer doesn't work as well these days.)
How tired are you on this day after the festivities? Was it a good, fun break or were there moments of trauma or drama that made it stressful? On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst, how stressed are you today? How stressed are you most days? If you are thinking “8-10” more days than not, perhaps you need a break, some help, a change of lifestyle, or to drop some things or people in your life. If you thought: “1!!” or thereabouts, we all wish we were you!
Whether we are in the busy years of life being a kid, or working full time, raising a family, serving in volunteer positions, or we are beyond most of that and are retired or semi-retired or not moving as fast anymore, we all need to monitor the pressure on our lives occasionally. If we are constantly stressed or anxious, maybe we need to reevaluate our lives and think through what is causing the stress to see how we can work with it or, if possible, get rid of it. It may be beneficial for some of us to see a counselor and get some advice as to how to handle stress. We may find that there is a chemical imbalance in us that needs help with medications. Or we might find we just need to retrain our brains to react or handle things differently. (Oh, the joy of getting the help we need!)
My husband went through some counseling at one point and his counselor gave him a list (at the end of the blog) that he still swears by. Though he was on meds for a while, he will tell you that it was the list that changed his life. It helped him to see and react to life differently. That and a friend who told him to think of trials as opportunities. Life changing words, if we take them seriously.
So, going back to my first paragraph: how do you want today to go? Do you want to stay in that drag-my-butt-around mentality, or do you want to grab it, throw it off, (I am visualizing myself stomping it into the ground!) and choose a better attitude (internal), a happier outlook (outward)? Choose happy. Sing, dance, laugh, be silly, or whatever moves you to enjoy life. We never know what is coming – good, blah, or challenging, but life is short, so let’s get excited and enjoy it the best we can. If we look for them, there are lessons, joy, and beauty all around us. (Yes, lessons are a GOOD thing! We should not be embarrassed or depressed by our faults but be happy to "learn" to see where we need change and to adapt to it.)
List of redirecting our thoughts:
“Monitor Your Thinking”
Discriminate between:
- positive and negative thoughts,
- necessary and unnecessary thoughts,
- constructive and destructive thoughts.
ALWAYS: Dispute bad thoughts and correct them.
This will cause many successes with less failures.
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