Tuesday 21 February 2012

Worse things happen at sea! Choose Joy!!!

Hello


Today I have had plenty of opportunity to practice staying in a good mood for the simple reason that getting upset when things appear to be wrong or unharmonious achieves nothing whatsoever. So far I feel I have been very successful! Nothing major or life altering happened today, there was nothing but everyday challenges to deal with, and I dealt with them with a smile! Actually quite a of of the time I found myself laughing out loud simply because ordinarily (or habitually) I might have got annoyed or felt disappointed, and now that seems so pointless.


The beauty and release of knowing that being sad, annoyed, disappointed or irritated (and probably a myriad of other unharmonious emotions which can be labeled) achieves nothing other than misery feels exquisite and funny. Clearly those emotions serve a very important purpose, I believe they help us to hone our preferences, they are the tool which we have to steer us in the right direction for a enjoyable life. If an experience brings up unharmonious feelings, then in future we will know to avoid it, in the same way that if we cut ourselves by using a blade carelessly or clumsily we will know to do it differently next time.


I don't believe unharmonious emotions are there simply to be felt for their own sake in the same way that happy ones are, once the unpleasant reaction to a situation or circumstance has been emotionally noted is there really any reason to continue to feel it?


Clearly sometimes there are situations where my emotions highlight a change or some action which needs to be taken, and sometimes circumstances mean that I feel sad (or even devastated) for a time, like in the case of loss of a loved one or a significant relationship.


I was fortunate today, there were a couple of times when I started to react to circumstances and I was gently reminded by my partner of my discovery that I need not react, and all that happened was that I just said "Oh, OK" and moved on, it really was as simple as that!


I had a broad smile from ear to ear as I hobbled around, in fact I laughed out loud as an elderly lady overtook me on the high street. The physical pain and mobility issues which I am currently experiencing are even starting to seem like the perfect opportunity to practice feeling happy despite apparent disadvantages. I have noticed that when dealing with pain, what I focus on and which thoughts I allow myself to think has a considerable bearing on the way I experience the pain; if I think of what I would love or concentrate on something interesting, then the pain is simply there in the background, however if I notice the pain and go with thoughts about how unpleasant it is or how I wish it would go away then sometimes it becomes intolerable and I spiral downward into the gloom. 


When something happens which my mind logs as 'serious' I do still have a bit of a dilemma, an inner battle goes on where I know that thinking about how upset I am will do nothing for me, but as I am not quite out of the habit of indulging bad feeling thoughts there is a part of me which still wants to go with those miserable old thoughts. It's a bit like when someone says "look at that horrible thing over there" for me it still takes some effort of will not to look, after all why would I want to see something horrible? And yes ok I'm sure there are people out there who see the 'value' in looking at unpleasant things, but I'm not one of them! 


I am going to do my best, I am going to keep trying however hard it is to remember how easy it can be, to remember to laugh when I could frown, to remember that worse things happen at sea, I am going to keep challenging myself to not get upset when things seem difficult.....


               I CHOOSE GOOD FEELING THOUGHTS
                         I CHOOSE TO LAUGH
                           I CHOOSE PEACE
                            I CHOOSE LOVE
                          I CHOOSE JOY !!!!!


Today I am thankful for my leg which doesn't hurt
I am thankful that I can still walk even though it hurts
I am thankful that I will get better
I am thankful that I have a working car
I am thankful for speedy old ladies
I am thankful for wonderful views
I am thankful for open hearts
I am thankful that fingernails and hair keeps growing.........
I am thankful that I have a garden
I am thankful for the world garden


love Klara.

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