Thinking of my grandma lots lately, although she has never really left my mind. I feel as if she is here--sometimes more than others--perhaps she has other family members to attend to at times. I'll be ok with that :) One of the things that echos in my head from her is that we are all in our rightful place. She was more religious than I, but I still believe this to be true more than most things I believe to be true.
It could be for me ring more true than for others who are less fortunate than I, but in this incident I believe it to be true tonight because it has to be. If it's not than all hope is lost, which as humans, is essential, if not the most essential part to life. So if we are all in our rightful place and we all have a mission, I want to believe I am one step closer to understanding the mission. Not necessarily to completing it, just making sense of it all. So off I go with my head full of something that has to be true and my belly full of cheese. How could anything go wrong at this point?
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Just Opportunities
"No problems, just opportunities"
This phrase has be resonating with me the past few weeks after accompanying a friend to her church. What strikes me (and has actually struck me before..not unlike a lightening victim) is the fact that we create our own happiness. And in that same breath our own opportunities. We have all heard the glass half full or glass half empty analogy. I'm sure it's been written about and talked about to death. But it is not until one actually realizes that they really do have the power to be happy, that it makes sense.
No that it's easy to do. Things bring us down on a daily basis--whether it be our relationships, people we don't even know, societal pressures, money, time or just pressures we put on ourselves. There is an endless list of things that can potentially cause you to feel sad. Which is ok. We are human; we can feel sad. But feeling sad and being sad are two different things. Same with happiness. By realizing that we have control over this is coming to the ah-ha moment that these things are not really happening to us necessarily. And so with this realization a whole new realm of possibilities is revealed. With these possibilities can come opportunities that you didn't even intend for in the first place.
The pastor at this church told us that pessimism takes the same energy as optimism which I thought, is that really true? This then sparked an entire new torrent of thoughts about how certain people are wired. I thought about how my whole life I have been lucky with experiences, events and even my own thoughts which were pretty much all light-hearted, happy and optimistic thoughts. But, until then I had never gone through a true hardship. Hell, I've barely gone through anything hard still, by most people's standards. For me though, right now is not easy. So what I have learned is that when we are feeling sad that yes, it is hard to be optimistic. But does it really take the same energy as pessimism? Doesn't it seem easy to be optimistic? The old me would have responded, yes, of course. This wiser (ha!) me is responding that it is not easy to be optimistic, but it is equally draining to feel pessimistic all the time. So I guess it all makes sense, the energy that is used is the same amount, but perhaps it just doesn't feel the same when we're in it.
When we are happier we are perhaps more apt to become comfortable, or to settle. Yet, I don't think this is true for everyone or even most people. Maybe it's just me. But as I continue to think about "no problems, just opportunities", I also think that if we create our own happiness and we have enough of it, does it then continue to creating opportunities? Or does opportunity rise from problems or hardship? Do people rise up out of the dust more often than they just stumble upon something when they are going along their merry way?
Obviously, I don't really know the answer. Or the answer just depends on different people. But as I trudge my way though a difficult period of my life I need to remember that I can create my own happiness as well as my own opportunities. I can use the same energy that is draining away from me on my pessimistic days and convert it into energy to use for my optimism, and in turn other people's optimism. As hard as it is to remember, it is true that we can put out these energies to others, and they are contagious. I surround myself with kids all day and I don't want to be emitting negative vibes to them or anyone else.
So when I begin to think about all my problems, I need to remember the echo of this man's voice as he said "no problems, just opportunities". How can I create an opportunity out of this problem? What good energies can be brought about as I convert this energy? And most importantly, what can I learn from this and how can I eventually create this into the happiness I will find within?
This phrase has be resonating with me the past few weeks after accompanying a friend to her church. What strikes me (and has actually struck me before..not unlike a lightening victim) is the fact that we create our own happiness. And in that same breath our own opportunities. We have all heard the glass half full or glass half empty analogy. I'm sure it's been written about and talked about to death. But it is not until one actually realizes that they really do have the power to be happy, that it makes sense.
No that it's easy to do. Things bring us down on a daily basis--whether it be our relationships, people we don't even know, societal pressures, money, time or just pressures we put on ourselves. There is an endless list of things that can potentially cause you to feel sad. Which is ok. We are human; we can feel sad. But feeling sad and being sad are two different things. Same with happiness. By realizing that we have control over this is coming to the ah-ha moment that these things are not really happening to us necessarily. And so with this realization a whole new realm of possibilities is revealed. With these possibilities can come opportunities that you didn't even intend for in the first place.
The pastor at this church told us that pessimism takes the same energy as optimism which I thought, is that really true? This then sparked an entire new torrent of thoughts about how certain people are wired. I thought about how my whole life I have been lucky with experiences, events and even my own thoughts which were pretty much all light-hearted, happy and optimistic thoughts. But, until then I had never gone through a true hardship. Hell, I've barely gone through anything hard still, by most people's standards. For me though, right now is not easy. So what I have learned is that when we are feeling sad that yes, it is hard to be optimistic. But does it really take the same energy as pessimism? Doesn't it seem easy to be optimistic? The old me would have responded, yes, of course. This wiser (ha!) me is responding that it is not easy to be optimistic, but it is equally draining to feel pessimistic all the time. So I guess it all makes sense, the energy that is used is the same amount, but perhaps it just doesn't feel the same when we're in it.
When we are happier we are perhaps more apt to become comfortable, or to settle. Yet, I don't think this is true for everyone or even most people. Maybe it's just me. But as I continue to think about "no problems, just opportunities", I also think that if we create our own happiness and we have enough of it, does it then continue to creating opportunities? Or does opportunity rise from problems or hardship? Do people rise up out of the dust more often than they just stumble upon something when they are going along their merry way?
Obviously, I don't really know the answer. Or the answer just depends on different people. But as I trudge my way though a difficult period of my life I need to remember that I can create my own happiness as well as my own opportunities. I can use the same energy that is draining away from me on my pessimistic days and convert it into energy to use for my optimism, and in turn other people's optimism. As hard as it is to remember, it is true that we can put out these energies to others, and they are contagious. I surround myself with kids all day and I don't want to be emitting negative vibes to them or anyone else.
So when I begin to think about all my problems, I need to remember the echo of this man's voice as he said "no problems, just opportunities". How can I create an opportunity out of this problem? What good energies can be brought about as I convert this energy? And most importantly, what can I learn from this and how can I eventually create this into the happiness I will find within?
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