rethinking our thinking?

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it." - Mary Engelbreit

Readers,

It's the 31st of August 2014. Already. 

We find ourselves yet again at the end of another month in our calendar, another month gone in which tasks have been completed, goals and motives have been achieved, and other forthcoming events in our lives await us in the not so distant horizon. It's an exciting time, but a time I always tread upon with a sense of caution. 

Lately I've got to thinking, despite what should arguably be feelings of relief and achievement at the dawning of a new month in our calendars, along with the 'reaching another point on life's righteous path' mentality, it seems, to me anyway, that in actuality the opposite occurs. As a society we are becoming more and more negative in our mindset towards daily life and what it means to really 'live'. We've caused it, we're to blame, it's at our own despair, and it's our problem.  

My question? Well, Why?

...

Work today was a struggle, especially when it consisted of time passing slower than waiting for paint to dry. It's now all too apparent to me that August and more to the point, a Sunday in August, is not exactly the ideal leather bag buying day for the general public, or for a better word, whom we like to call our customers. So there I stood, phone in hand, balancing half my body weight against the door of the staffroom in an attempt to wedge it open whilst scrolling with one eye through my Pinterest account with the other keeping a watchful eye over the floor.

I know, right? Such dedication.

As it just so happened, in the midst of this session of Pinterest scrolling, with not to mention some seriously intricate levels of customer focus and attention... *cough*, I stumbled across yet another set of wise words - "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it." - Mary Engelbreit. 

It hit me so hard that I couldn't not get it, that I couldn't not see the sign that for whatever reason, this (whatever 'this' is), was supposed to dawn on me in that very moment, right there, in my slouched state of existence, both mentally and physically. It hit me like a fish would instantly take to water. It really is as simple as that isn't it? - our mindset is everything. Our mindset is what counts, right? Rethinking the thinking we do ourselves is crucial for success in our daily lives. Such words made me evaluate the many stresses, issues, worries and concerns that, lets face it, every person has and simply cannot escape. I stopped and asked myself...just how much of what I think about and intensely analyse to the most microscopic detail throughout my life is genuinely necessary? How much of what I panic and stress about is in actuality as important as I make it out to be? How does such a stress-filled, negatively analytical and downright depressive state of mentality impact upon my daily life as a citizen? It's a thought that, needless to say, provided a huge realisation to both me and my inner self.

I'll happily admit that I'm an incredibly stressful sort of person. Little to large, it's become all too apparent to me throughout my adolescent years and into adulthood that daily challenges, tasks, issues, deadlines and situations stress me far too much to be deemed acceptable, maybe even to be deemed as normal. To many this is shocking, to those laid-back soles who get stressed over next to nothing, such a state of mind is, well, pretty much incomprehensible. Nevertheless, to me and anyone else who can relate, such a state of mind is hard to steer away from. Like many aspects in our lives, I've come to realise that changing your mindset appears easier said than done. It's a task, however, that I'm willing to give my best shot. Yet time, after time, after time, I all too often find myself slowly sinking back into my old habits. It's true what they say, isn't it?...old habits really do die hard.

There's nothing quite as satisfying as the true beauty of making time for the smaller things in life, the smaller things in life that I've come to learn in the end, prove themselves to be not so small after all - grabbing coffee with your nearest and dearest, spontaneous weekend trips home, an evening run with good music to act as the motivator to get yourself back in shape, buying yourself something new just because you can...things that help initiate a positively fuelled mentality towards life. Don't underestimate the ability these apparently 'small' things have. It's fabulous.

It's indisputable that at least nowadays, there are very few things that can be classified as black and white, straightforward, easy to grasp. One, however, might just be this...we can't create positive views towards life with a negative mindset. We have to heal the wounds we feel are at the core of the issues we have within our life. Once we stop seeing ourselves as victims to life's pressures and step back from this 'everything is against me' type of attitude, it will open up an abundance of new and improved levels of access to our personal powers, along with the way we think and feel about life. At the end of the day, we only get one life, but if we get it right and live it the way it should be lived, well I'd say once is just about enough.

Dwelling on life's unfairness and the injustices doesn't do anything towards changing aspects that, really, when the cards are on the table, are always going to be apparent. Something, somewhere, at some point in our lives is always going to be unfair, frustrating, challenging, draining and tiresome, but it's how we deal with such emotions that counts. Negativity does nothing besides draining our energy, magnifying pessimistic emotions and keeping us unhealthily fixated on the problems in life as apposed to enabling us to rather stay focused upon finding solutions. 

When I reinforce such a lifestyle into my own interpretations, it appears that I'm presented with a choice. I can slink off the runway of life and let my inner morals and inner self die of shame because of such a persistently negative mentality, or I can pick myself up, flaws and all, and make a direct change to combatting such an attitude. That's just what I intend to do, because when real people fall down in life they do just that, they get right back up and keep on walking along the path of what life has to offer.

It turns out that my little act of self realisation has provided me with the incentive to brush some of this knowledge onto others. Life could really be a lot worse.

In order for us to think rationally and generally more positive about life, we need to recognise that our reactions are just that, reactions, and it's us that need to consciously choose the extent to which such reactions will dictate the actions we project towards our state of mentality. Be it positive or negative, it's up to YOU to choose how you want your life experiences to be. I won't say what the answer is, because there isn't one.

Let's give it a try. I will if you will. 

Let's see how it goes - good luck! 

L xo