So many of us have the same thoughts that loop through our minds all day long. We have a tendency to look for and to ruminate about negative things, as an effort to figure out a way to keep bad things from happening to us. So, a nice experience quickly fades from memory, but a negative experience will hang out in our minds as we re-play it over and over again. What a bummer.
What if we made an active decision to think about what was good? This is at the essence of a gratitude practice, but in addition to just counting our blessings, maybe we can re-train our minds so we see the good in the everyday, the commonality among people, the effort behind actions we don't understand. We can be so quick to criticize others and create distance. If we step back and re-think things, and remind ourselves that everyone is just out there doing their best, then maybe some of the harshness and judgments fall away. It's true, all of us as people are imperfect and we make mistakes all day long. Yet it is also true that we are getting so many things right. Take time to see the small acts of kindness going on all around you, the ongoing efforts of so many despite huge odds, and be thankful to be a part of this amazing journey called life.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
I have had some times in my life when everything seemed to go wrong, and I had to come up with a mantra or a different way of life to change it. Your idea takes this one step beyond, though. I like the idea of seeing the good as a natural way of being. Make it an exception to see the bad. It will take practice!!
Good thoughts Brenda. You are so right, when we feel that everything is going wrong, we need to change our thinking, or all we will see is more evidence of things going wrong! I like your statement "seeing the good as a natural way of being." Nice
I was in a meeting today, and they started talking about Positive Psychology - this sounds like something similar! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_psychology
So cutting edge, and at the same time ancient. I remember someone talking about training dolphins (I spent a lot of my youth at theme parks). They ONLY respond to positive feedback - they don't respond to negative feedback. It works on humans, also!
Post a Comment