Blessed Interruptions

Did you ever forget how awesome life is?  Of course you have.  We all have.  I've done a pretty good job myself lately.  In fact, a problem has been distracting me so much it was all I could think of pretty much all of yesterday.  And last night. And this morning.

When that happens, we need to interrupt our thought patterns.  We can let life do it for us, but that's not always the best.  I found that out this morning when I was so consumed by how the problem made me feel (stressed & angry) that in my distraction I let another, preventable problem occur - the kind that makes you say "hash mark-exclamation point-question mark-star-exclamation point".

At least I was distracted enough to come up with a solution after that.  I did find myself dwelling on the problem-feelings occasionally during the day, but came up with a phrase to interrupt myself with when I started thinking about it again.  The next step probably would have been standing on a chair and doing something silly just to reinforce NOT thinking about it.

Another key is to make sure you hang out with people who reinforce how you WANT to think, enough to counteract the woe-is-me trends we can get into.   And making sure we start choosing to act in ways that minimise stress.  For me, it's learning to set deadlines, agreements, and goals, and making sure I start them sooner than I think I need to.  If the weight of finishing a huge task makes me feel that much better, chances are I've left it too long and let it become a problem when instead it can be something that moves me closer to a goal.

And don't forget to look around and see how awesome life is.  Turn off the news, it's rarely going to tell you anything you don't already know, and will simply fill your  thinking with rubbish and hyper-negative thinking.  If it's important enough, you'll hear about it.

Look for what you love.  Today I was reminded how much I love the fact that in Australia I can drive down the road in suburban Melbourne and there are a bunch of horses doing something somewhere.

This holiday season is going to be vibrant, refreshing and amazing.  Because I choose to live it that way.  Have blessed Christmas and an stunning New Year!