We can always choose to perceive things differently. You can focus on what's wrong in your life, or you can focus on what's right.
Marianne Williamson
In life, there are good days and there are bad days, and that is ok. There have to be bad days for us to truly appreciate the good ones. However, as Marianne points out, our perception of those bad days is completely up to us. We can "focus on what is wrong, or what is right." And where we place our focus directly affects the intensity of the effect those days have on us.
A day in which we do not worry, regardless of our circumstances, is certainly a good day. Whether those times are good or bad, they are the only times we have. And if they are bad, certainly we would do well to seek peace, for looking at life or situations with a pessimistic view will do little to alleviate the troubles, and will do lots to overwhelm us and prolong our suffering.
In reflecting on your own life, how often have you seen things as going well? I find that life generally offers me much more to focus on than I am able to, or need to, focus on. Therefore, it is important that I carefully choose just what I allow into my mind on a deeper level, and what I keep on the periphery. If I allow my coworker's family problems to preoccupy me, for example, then I am adding a new set of worries to my life. Thus, it helps to strive to let others do what they do, be what they are, and simply remain ready to step in and help in a situation when necessary, while keeping a clear idea of just what belongs in our minds. Typically, if it is something I cannot control, or is out of my realm of influence, I am much better off not letting it be something that overwhelms me.
How we live our lives is up to us, the way we react to input, and which input we consider important enough to worry about or to focus on strongly, is our decision to make.
Today's Challenge: Focus on "what is right" in your life.
Questions to consider:
How often have you seen things in your life or at work or in the family as going very well, only to have a discussion with someone who sees things as going poorly?
How often do things seem to be so overwhelming that it is impossible to bear them?
Do you consciously choose the things you focus on, or do you allow things to work their way into your mind on their own, without ever sitting down and deciding whether they are important enough to worry about?
The world is perfect. It's a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives.
Joseph Campbell
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