Good day,
Its day six of my blog. So, How am I doing so far? It's now about six weeks since I discovered (with the help of my amazing friend) that I am in control of my thoughts. How has that been going for me? It has been a challenging week I must say! We've had a week of wind and rain, and when it hasn't been raining its either been night time or the sky has been grey and brooding, this has at times led to my family trapped in the house together, with that post christmas refusal to be creative (a.k.a. boredom), and not only that but my partner and youngest daughter have severe colds and have been quite unwell. In the past this would have been a perfect recipe for me to have at best, a major mood crash or at worst a slide into despair and hopelessness.
Thanks to the help of choosing better feeling thoughts, I have been able to surf through this challenging time, I have been constantly reminding myself of a few things which I would like to share here.
Firstly a tool which I was introduced to a couple of weeks ago by a visiting friend; that is the concept of small successes. For me this means that I make it a daily practice to notice successes that I have of any kind no matter how small or seemingly insignificant they may be and then I celebrate them. I celebrate them by talking about them to friends or if I am alone, by relishing them, I stand and feel pleased with my self, I pat my self on the back, I smile broadly, or even do a little dance and I keep my attention and focus for a while on my success.
Here are some of my small successes:
I tidied my bedroom one handedly, the other holding baby and lit candles with intention for healing.
I caught myself in a moment in which I started to lose my temper but instead managed to ride out the angry hormones and choose better feeling thoughts.
I helped one of my daughters to pick better feeling thoughts, mostly about kittens, and shift her mood.
I wrote my blog despite a million interruptions.
I kept calm even though my baby cried for a couple of hours and we didn't get to sleep until about 2am.
These may seem like trivial events to you, but focusing on them serves to make me feel wonderful, successful and it keeps my mind actively appreciating ME. Having a small baby it is easy for whole days to slip by and it can appear to me that I have done almost nothing, I usually do the laundry- which gives me a Mrs Doyle like glee and smugness, and this makes me laugh out loud even when those around me have no idea what or who Mrs Doyle is ( think Father Ted). Hooray for small successes, I believe that in the long run they will lead me to large successes and if they never do I shall be happy and feel successful anyway. HA!!!!!
Secondly Challenge, for the last six weeks I have chosen to view all the events which would normally feel difficult, tedious or unfair as challenges and adventures, the type of challenge or adventure to which I am referring is one which would be faced by a HERO such as Odysseus or Cuchulain. I am not a mythological hero nor am I likely to leave my life and set out on a quest to eat a minotaur or cut off the head of Medusa and prove myself through typically heroic deeds, (it can be hard to find mythological creatures to do battle with in Somerset) but I can be THE HERO OF MY OWN LIFE!
For me this means that normal everyday encounters and interactions need not get me down, but be viewed as challenges, occurrences where I get to use my incredible brain to find interesting, happy solutions and where any job can be one where I do my BEST. Even the washing up can be done to shining perfection where the dishes are fit for a king, gleaming in the afternoon sunshine which burst forth from between the clouds (OK I had to use my imagination for that!).
"The Big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure" - Joseph Campbell.
So I say "YES" to my adventure exactly the way it is right now. That doesn't mean I'm not going to aspire to something else or that I am resigned to 'just' doing the laundry , it means that I'm not going to fight who and where I am in my life, I'm going to go with the flow and create my vision of my life to come whilst doing my absolute best with my life that is NOW.
My baby has woken up so I'm going with the flow into the next part of my day - and nurture my growing child.
Today I am thankful for the healing which sleep brings to the body
I am thankful for the first smile on my baby's face each morning
I am thankful for all my tiny successes
I am thankful for the rain which feeds the Earth and makes the pavements smell delicious
I am thankful for my children's senses of humour
I am thankful for all the challenges in my life and the learning which they bring
I am thankful that today's blog has flowed so easily from my mind to the page
I am thankful for the fantastic view from my bedroom window
I am thankful for knowing that no matter how dark the sky is the sun is out there behind the clouds
I am thankful that I can choose my next thought
love Klara
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