Have you ever forgotten
that you were happy? I have and what a wonderful feeling
it is to be down in the dumps and suddenly remember “wow my life is actually pretty
good”! It’s like waking from a bad dream. My peace returns along with my much needed HOPE,
oh how I miss that when it’s gone. Just
for fun check whether you are really happy and just forget. Here is a test: If you are currently unhappy stop and ask yourself
why. If your reason is stupid and could be fixed
with just not caring about that "thing" anymore, then you are really happy! Okay I
know it’s not always that simple but it’s worth a try.
I know a lot of people
will reduce this all to “positive thinking” but I don’t agree. I mean, if that is all you got, go ahead be
as positive as possible. But I
need God. I know at this point people
say, “Ok here is where she says she prayed and God made it all better”. Not even close. This is what really happened…I prayed, and
prayed, and begged, and pouted, got mad, renounced my faith (only for about 3 seconds),
then finally realized what a complete idiot I was. Of course when I stopped begging God to “do
something” I realized He already had. I always
had the peace, it wasn’t lost it was just ignored. It was so much easier to just ask God to zap
away my problems than realize He wanted me to have joy in spite of them.
I think of
this process as a shift in perception which runs a lot deeper than just positive
thinking. Haven’t we have all given
ourselves a positive pep talk that changed nothing? But remember those times when you just KNEW
something was going to be successful and it was. That is a altering of our perception that
shifts our reality. The bible talks
about “transforming your mind” through reading scripture, and no doubt that is
a big part of keeping things in the right perspective. How can you have a bad day when you read
over and over that you are known and loved by the creator of the world?
Every
single up and down and lesson I learn I try to pass along to Bella. How wonderful to think that she could avoid
at least a few of my mistakes! I have witnessed this principle of perception
play out many times in her life. Some
mornings I can tell within 2 minutes if she is going to have a good day or a
bad day. Is she happy go lucky or
looking for a fight? So many times I see
her on track to have a horrible day but how do you teach a child how to turn that
around? I am sure many times I just
make it worse by getting frustrated and angry.
After my recent experience when I
see her going down the bad mood road I will try finding that little something
that jogs her memory and remind her she is really happy.
