In order to begin to create a life of happiness, one must first observe their thoughts and become aware of how they are approaching their life. Because, as we already know, we are a result of all the pictures we've painted of ourselves. But we often forget that we can always paint new ones.
The term "how we approach our lives" is an apt one. We really are our thoughts, and looking at our lives as something to "approach" helps us to see that we have choices. We can choose different paths, different approaches, different outlooks, and we can always take a turn in a new direction if the path we're on isn't taking us to a place of fulfillment, contentment, or satisfaction. When we find ourselves getting sucked into the drama of negative talk and negative actions we are adding to the unhappiness of the world and to our life. Anything that gets in the way of your happiness is yours and yours alone. You have the choice to throw that thought away, morph it into something empowering or paint over the canvas with a new vision. We have the choice to create any world we want to live in. If we feel stuck in a world that isn't going the way we want it to, then we may need to simply accept what IS and move in another direction of thought and form. "Envisioning has enormous power. With our vision and imagination we can help create the future. Envisioning sets our direction, marshals our resources, makes the un-manifest possible." ~ Jack Kornfield Each week I receive emails asking my counsel on how to deal with life issues such as struggling with frustration, anger, disappointment and so on. I too deal with these issues and this is when I remind myself that life just IS. It just moves along. And the ONLY thing I can change is my attitude toward it. Attitude is something we do have control over. It simply comes down to choices. Choices on how we view any given situation. We have the choice to see something as an opportunity for growth and change - or we can give in to feelings of anger, hopelessness and defeat. Life is full of opportunities. Opportunities for us to peacefully make our voices heard to change injustices, opportunities to choose kindness over anger, opportunities to visualize positive changes and put them into action. But it takes practice. We have been reacting to life for so long that we do so out of habit, and changing that habit takes effort and commitment. It seems that committing to happiness, committing to loving behavior and committing to making the positive changes in the world that we need to live happily can seem so foreign to us that we don't even know where to begin. If we begin each day by reminding ourselves that we only have this day and "I am going to make it a great day". That "no one can take this from me if I don't let them", then we have begun to make the changes in how we approach our life. And from that we make the choices to love rather than hate, to demonstrate FOR peaceful solutions rather than against something, to see the positives in each other and overlook the short-comings, to paint over the pictures of our past creating new beauty in our lives. And in doing these things, by making these choices, we change the world with each individual we meet and with each stroke of our brush. *Joanie Lane is a Meditation Teacher, Reiki Master/Teacher, Spiritual & Life Coach, and Healing Movement Qigong Leader. She lives in Kelseyville, Ca. at her meditation center "A Positive Light". For more information visit her website at apositivelight.com **These are original writings by Joanie. Any quotes by others that have been included have been identified.
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