Simple

 Wearing a hair tie around my wrist to create a habit of being mindful.  As I catch a glimpse of that hair tie I stop and ask myself "What am I thinking right now?"  Is that thought a positive (good) or a negative (bad) thought?  Capturing what I am feeling will directly correlate to that thought.  Having a crappy thought is probably really bumming me out.  Do I want to feel bummed out, no.  Who would want that?  My mood, my feelings, even my surrounding circumstances are being influenced by my thoughts.  Ruminating in the cesspool of the past does not help me in any way, shape or form either.  I stop and ask myself, can I control it?  Whatever thought, event, person, actually anything other than myself....do I personally have any control over it?.  Nope. So, I have to let it go. Just let it go. Sounds easy doesn't it?  We as humans have an innate instinct to try to control, anything to everything. It's our fear for survival.  Our fear of what might happen if we lose that control.  Problem with that though is we can't predict the future anymore than we can change the past.  It all sounds so paralyzing until we realize what we can have a tremendous impact on is the present. This very moment, as you are reading this, this is the present moment The past in this scenario would be the very first word I wrote, the future is still waiting to unfold. My plans for tomorrow are just that, plans.  What I do in this moment is so very important. The actions I take, the words I say.  Are they kind?  I wear that hair tie to be mindful because my present thoughts and actions are creating my future. What do I want that to be like?  Well, definitely pretty great, right?  We only have control over our own thoughts so we only are able to create our own life. Do I want health, wealth, and happiness for the people I love?  Of course I do, but I cannot create that for them. Our thoughts are powerful but only to the entity they exist in.  I know I have many sceptics out there and if you're still reading this, I'm giving you a shout out because I am awed by your tenacity.  Becoming aware of our thoughts and the immense  power they have over every single thing happening to us should be a big wake up call.  What is an image that brings a smile to your face?  Go ahead, think of that now...are you able to frown while you're smiling?  Was there a brief pause in that pain that you feel? Keep that image with you. Bring  your happy image front and center whenever you need it.  Sounds so simplistic but what the heck, give a shot. All that will happen is for one brief moment you feel happiness.

Okay

Never say 'okay' when starting a  conversation..  So here I go. Okay, I started this blog because it was suggested to me to do so by someone who heard a story I had written and how I had expressed to him my love to write. That being said, here I am. Writing, something I love to do. Putting my thoughts into words, whether they are read by others is of no consequence to me.  My joy comes from my having the opportunity to express myself.  It's funny that my ability to type quickly appears when I'm here, on this blog.  Then my fingers fly to keep up with my thoughts. It's really pretty cool that this happens.  

My mind would go from one topic to another, trying to decide what to write about.  I managed to write and delete several blogs before this one.  I decided I was going to write whatever came to my mind at that time.  The blog would not have a theme or a premise, it would just be my thoughts, written for me and if anyone decides to read and enjoys them, that world be great too.  

So, this is my first of many 'blogs' and each one I write will be as unique as I am., as we all are. 

Stay tuned for the next event happening in my head.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to be putting my thoughts into words. My hope is that you will be just as grateful for reading them.

Life

 What if...we say this all time. What if we had a chance to do this life over again, but we started here, right now. We begin our life as it is here, in the present moment. 

What if we had a chance to see the rainbows colors, to hear the laugh of a baby, to cry uncontrollably from grief, to feel the warmth of the sun, to shake with fear, hear the  sound of thunder, the smell of the grass, to feel a sting of a bee, to feel the ache of a broken heart, to laugh until crying, the smell of the ocean water, to see the birth of a living thing, to see the place where the earth meets the sky, to say goodbye to true love. to feel the kiss of a pet, to hear the waves of the ocean hit the sand, to see the snow fall from the sky, to feel numb from sadness. to see the last flicker of a candle, to hear a bird's song, to fall in love, to smell the scent of roses, to feel the softness of a pets' fur, to feel the rain, to feel, to hear, to see, to smell, to taste, to live. 

What if all the good in our life was there because of all the unpleasant. What if all the unpleasant was there because of all the good.  What if we made a promise to ourselves, live here, live now. To experience the precious gift the universe so freely gave us. To feel the tears stream down our face and to feel our breath as it passes through our lips. To be the  gift of life, because the miracle of life is within me, is within you. 

Inspiration

 She sits across the table from me with a sincere smile of caring.  My face wet from tears as the conversation is the same as the one I had previously with her.  A few details changed but still the same story told to her time after time. Her words of inspiration and making my desperate need to make sense of what I thought, was my world crashing down around me. 

At the time her response was one of simplicity, I thought my anguish seemed of disinterest to her.  To anyone who knew her, this would be impossible.  Her spirit, her sense of humor, her insight into what is truly important in life was a beacon of light.  Her response so often to any of my sorrows was,  "Positive thoughts".  It wasn't until I found the meaning of those words that her advice would finally be understood.  Her seemingly indifference to my agony was actually meant to convey a very strong message.  When I finally found what her 'positive thoughts' meant. I told her of my enlightened way of thinking and how it came to me.  I asked her why she hadn't told me before. She said if she had tried to explain it, I most likely would not have understood.  

All of us have to arrive at our own 'positive thoughts' moment on our own unique time table.  One would think that person had lost their mind.  I knew exactly what she meant.  I wanted to share what I had learned. I wanted the people I loved to know the secret of the peace in my heart.  I tried sharing this amazing gift and she was right, to have others grasp the idea what 'positive thoughts' had meant was quite impossible.  We are human and are hard wired to live in a world that we create. Attempting to alter that way, is quite a task. She was ight, we all have to stumble upon this idea on our own.  How fortunate for me I had that moment and could share that knowledge with her..  I felt comfort in her words and gratitude for her faith.  

Knowing this secret and practicing it on a daily basis can be challenging in this busy cluttered life, or least this is what society has told us.  How grateful I am to know that clutter can be changed into amazing and wonderful things.  Positive thoughts are merely the tip of the iceberg and an exceptional place to begin. When you wake up in the morning, before you get out of bed, tell yourself that your day ahead is going to go smoothly and then intend it to happen. Believe it to be so, have faith that your thoughts are going to create how your day goes. Positive thoughts... and remember to smile.  

Perception

 Having a chance to share my unusual day with someone has given me another opportunity to see the unique coincidences we have in our lives. Near the end of our visit I was describing a theory I had and she unconsciously interrupted with a word she questioned herself for saying out loud. She asked herself, or me, What did I say that for? The word she spoke was 'perception'. She had a 'where in the world did that come from' look on her face. Since then, the word, and many variations of it have surfaced in my life. Websters dictionary defines it as  'observations, awareness, consciousness'. I've had those words  repeated several times by many people, each one describing their own perceptions.  Was it fate that her 'out of the blue' word was spoken? I think not. It was an indication to me to be aware of the word being spoken by others and to sit up and take notice. Videos appeared (out of nowhere) as I searched for other things. To hear an inspirational speaker's description of  "nothing" (no thing), the lightness and ease in her voice is awe inspiring.  Another's expression of awareness is so calm that he almost seems near sleep at times. These enlightened individuals are kept near to me, they are doors that are open to me and to everyone. I see myself finding serendipity's in just about everything. Movie scripts. random statements from strangers. even billboard's. This is the power of our perception, our awareness to our thoughts.

 Whether you think this is all nonsense is a most welcome response. My intention of this particular blog was just to point out how odd it was that she just happened to say 'perception' for no intended reason. But there was in fact a reason. The word stuck in my mind and I managed to see and hear the word many times. It was a fortunate accident that I stumbled upon the people who's passion in life was to share the amazing gift they found.  Someone dear to me told me that my positive thoughts and new found look on life would not be something I could explain but that it would be seen in me. I believe this person was right.  I am traveling, traveling through life as we all are. 

How my life unfolds is my own creation, just as it is yours.  Are my thoughts one of positivity, yes, as often as I allow them to be. We get what we give. I know what I can control and what I can't. Can I control the world events? No, so I let it go. Can I control my noisy neighbor, no. I chose the positive part of it, how fortunate the noise is not constant. Can I control the co-worker who tries to irritate me? No, but I can control how I respond to it. Seeing the perspective of life from a positive view point changes everything.  The serendipity's of life will be embraced, they are the sign's we should all be seeing. 

Forgive

I sit in the living room and suddenly hear screams from people having an argument next door. My kitty's  ears perk up, he lowers himself to the floor as he runs into the bedroom. I suddenly realize why is reacting to this with such fear. He is a witness to the screams from his past. The screams that came were from me.

 I know now as I did then, why I was screaming. The emotional toll it had (has) on every living thing in that house came roaring up at me in that moment I heard the argument and saw my kitty's reaction to it. A wave of remorse and regret flooded me to my soul. How could I have been so self absorbed in my own pain that I did not see what I was creating for the loving creatures around me? To see the fear in my kitty, knowing my reaction to my own emotional pain created  emotional pain in him. How do I express my regrets to him? To anyone that heard those screams. I can't. 

As I sit here with tears streaming down my face, remembering the horror of that event. How do I apologize, I can't. How do I heal their wounds, I can't. The past is in the past and should he left there. Wishing I could change it is futile at best. He is an animal, I can't say the words 'I'm sorry". Just realized saying those words to a human makes about as much sense. It doesn't fix anything. Knowing someone regrets what they did to hurt you shows compassion in that person but the wounds are still there. So how do we heal the ones who were hurt as well as the ones who did the hurting. Knowing I was the one hurting the ones I love brings great sorrow to my soul. My lame attempt to apologize to one of them was done too soon. I did not allow myself the same compassion as I would have another person. I needed to see what a did to those I love and it took hearing the neighbors argument and my kitty run, to become aware of it. I can't change anything, what happened...happened. It may sound selfish but beating myself up about it will only create havoc in my soul.

 Yes I truly wish that never happened. That I could take back every single sound of anger that came out of my mouth. That I could wipe that slate clean as if it never happened. I can't. We can't. All I can do now is forgive myself, knowing what I did was wrong and vowing never to do it again. It seems so simple doesn't it.......?

Mindset

 I find myself wanting to edit my blog when I think of who might be reading it. I guess that would give reason to using a  'pen name'. The whole point of this blog is to express my thoughts.  If one chooses not to read it that's great because they are making the choice. We choose what we do first, by thinking about it, and then acting on it. That is what our whole mindset is about. Some of you are wondering what a 'mindset' is, right? It's our thought pattern. Let me explain...we consistently set our thoughts to a specific style of thinking. For example, the last conversation you had with a person consisted of what topic? Was it how awful your day at work was, how terrible the weather is, how ill you're feeling? Let's change that conversation. Picture yourself saying only positive, uplifting words.  Some of you might be wondering how can I find words of positivity when only bad (negative) things are happening? Two things of great hope here, one is that we can actually change that by thinking of positive things or actually looking for positive things to talk about.  Let's say we choose the latter you're stuck behind someone going super slow on the highway and there is no way to pass them. We curse at them, become angry since there is no way to get around them and become more irritated. Are we still behind them and did any of those emotions help the situation? No, so instead of being frustrated by something we have no control over, we choose to see the positive in the situation. We're listening to music. listening to a podcast, singing out loud or reciting our favorite book whatever.The thing is we're not dwelling on the stuff we can't control, we are intentionally looking for 'good' things, positive things. Not looking forward to doing laundry, rephrase it, I get to wash my laundry then I'll have clean clothes to wear. Sounds pretty lame huh?  What if we just give the rephrasing thing a try?  The only one who will be listening to that thought will be you and that is a good thing because now you are rewiring your mind to find the good in even the simplest of things. Being aware of how we  keep our mind in one thought pattern gives us the ability to change it. Being aware that we have a rock in our shoe gives us the opportunity to take the shoe off and get the rock out. Sometimes being aware of our thought pattern can be challenging, so get a pen and paper and for a few seconds write down every thought that surfaces, do this with one word. What did you see on that paper? Now write down, in one word, what you want on that paper. Now keep the second set of words right in front of you all the time. Repeat that list over and over. This is what's called shifting our mindset. Focusing on what thoughts we want to repeat constantly in our mind will actually show up there. To all you 'doubters' out there, doubt is a negative word, a negative thought. We can do this, it's kinda like the story of "The Little Engine That Could"  Let's read that story and imagine that we are that engine.

  

 

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