Are you sad?
Many people are. As I write this, I see a gloomy, cloudy, windy day out my office window. The trees are releasing the last of their beautiful fall leaves and the cold of winter is ready to blow in.
You may be trying to get a foothold on a normal life again after our years of uncertainty only to be hit daily with more uncertainty in the headlines.
You can concentrate on all this negativity. You can add to the list all of your personal problems until you are sad. Very sad. You can mix in some anger. Add a little blame or shame, and soon you are a mess.
Here is what can happen:
• You get so used to being sad that you don’t know it’s sadness – it just feels like you.
• You get so used to being angry that you don’t know it’s anger – it just feels like you.
• You get so used to feeling blame and shame that you don’t know it’s blame and shame – it just feels like you.
Fill in the blanks with any negative emotion you have.
You get so used to feeling ______ that you don’t know it’s ______ – it just feels like you.
Think about that. Do you even know what you should feel like? You become so used to talking about being sad that it becomes who you are.
Be careful how you allow your emotions to take over your life. They can become a habitual personality trait, and you begin protecting this trait.
“Don’t touch my sadness, it’s all mine.”
You begin projecting this trait onto others. You talk about it, you think about it and you live in the bubble of it without letting anyone or anything positive in.
It is easy to fall prey to this negativity. If you weren’t sad before you began reading this, by the time you read the first paragraph you were probably thinking about how sad you must be. What if the first paragraph read like this:
Are you happy? Many people are.
As I write this, I see a glorious fall day out my office window. The trees are releasing the last of their beautiful colorful leaves. It is a lovely sight to watch the leaves flutter down, swinging back and forth in the wind until they softly settle on the ground.
Soon sparkling snow will cover the leaves with a blanket of white. The coziness of winter will quickly be here, and the headlines will be filled with tips on holiday baking and shopping ideas.
Do you see the difference? Do you feel the difference?
I was looking out the same window. I just saw and felt it differently. My emotions were different.
Monitor how happy emotions can easily take over your life. They can become a habitual personality traits. Protect your happiness and don’t allow others to disrupt it. Begin projecting positive emotions onto others. Nurture and share love, joy and happiness.
Here is what can happen:
• You get so used to being joyful that you don’t know it’s joy – it just feels like you.
• You get so used to being happy that you don’t know it’s happiness – it just feels like you.
• You get so used to feeling love that you don’t know it’s love – it just feels like you.
You control how you see things, how you describe things and how you react and respond to life situations. Look out your window right now. I hope you see the beauty of a glorious fall day.
Pennie’s Life Lesson: Be the one who gets so used to feeling joy and happiness that you don’t know it’s joy and happiness – it just feels like you.
