Change the Thoughts. Change the Behavior.

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."

Wayne Dwyer

I honestly don't think I will ever look at this critter from 

Pokemon Go

and think that it will change.

I have started to play the game with my daughter, and she has taught me that these critters do change.

There is an evolutionary process involved, 

and

I don't know how it works.

I am amazed that these critters do change, 

and
I am beginning to look at them with new eyes and hope for change.

The art of change is characterized by acceptance.  Once we quit fighting the change, the change becomes easier.  With acceptance comes growth.  With growth, like a plant, comes change.  Fruit is borne by the plant.  Hope for the future is implanted with change.

Sometimes, we get stuck.  I am one of those people who does not forget.  I might forgive, but I don't forget.  My daughter pointed this out to me, and I had to admit she was right.  I tend to nurse a hurt or injury given to me by another person.  That hurt becomes a seed in my soul, and infection sets in.

There are no antibiotics for this kind of infection.  Lately I have learned that rather than live in the negative, I need to work to change my thinking.  Yes, it's up to me, no matter how hard the hurt or how badly I feel.  I don't have to be a doormat.  I don't have to let those who hurt me back in my life, but I do have to forgive so that I can move on.  

I tend to nurture my hurts in my thoughts.  They go in a circle and implode and the hurt grows in my mind.  This is where the cycle must be broken.  I am learning, slowly but surely, to swim out of the water  and look at the bank rather than allow the murky water to drag me under.

If I am doing dishes, and the negative mindset creeps in, I must change that channel.  Sometimes, singing a song can do the job.  Other times, I must change my activity and my thoughts at the same time.  Although the dishes need to be finished, I might stop and go for a walk.  I seek life in the moment rather than in the past.  If it's a cool or cold day, I think about the air on my skin and how it feels.  I pick up a handful of snow and throw it up in the air.  I remind myself not to taste the yellow snow, and I laugh.  When I come home, if I fall back into the mode of negativity, I change the channel.  I make my bed.  I clean my drawer of socks.  I look at old photos and remember the good times.

Of course, you have to grieve your losses, but, I have learned that you do not have to allow them free rent in your brain.  I am not weak.  I am capable of change.  If I cannot do the job alone,  I seek help.  I seek to change my thoughts, and when I do, I find that my behavior changes.

I am happier with me.

I am happier with others.

Of course, there are days when I slip back into old roles.

Change doesn't come easily, and it often comes with pains, growing pains.

This is healthy and good.

The growing pains will end, and we will find ourselves in a new place where life can be better,

and

mentally we are healthier.

Thoughts can become inbeded in our souls.   When this happens, what we think becomes what we are.

The good news is that we can change the negative into the positive.

Not everything will go our way, but we will find ourselves shedding the bumps and bruises like a fighter who cannot be brought down without a lot of effort.

Even when we are brought down, we climb out of the ashes with new knowledge and strength.

i know who I am.  I am happy with who I am.  If I didn't try, I would have lost, but now I know more about me.  I'm willing to learn, and I'm willing to change.

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. Jim Rohn
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jimrohn133626.html?src=t_change

"You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of."

 Jim Rohn

The Art of Change

For people like me,

change is difficult at best.

When there is a choice,

I will change after kicking and screaming,

even when it's in my best interest to

change.

Kicking and screaming helps me to release my attachment to the 

change.

Some changes are inevitable.

Aging is inevitable,

and with aging comes

change.

Joints that used to work with no trouble are now working with trouble.

Change.

Experiences cause change.

A loved one dies.

A move to a new home or city or state causes change.

We mourn for what we had and loved.

We wonder what will happen in our new location or situation.

Change.

Our personalities change.

Sometimes, our accents change.

A relationship ends.

For some, that causes joy, for others, not so much.

Change.

Change, by itself, equals a loss of control, and that loss of control takes us away from the sense of comfort we have.

That loss of comfort is a change, but because we loose what we have had, we begin to develop a new awareness of that which we didn't have before.

A new job can bring us challenges that fuel our spirits and bring us joy.

A move to a new city can give us experiences that we were not able to enjoy before.

Change.

Life is not without change.

Life cannot happen without change.

There is an art to change.

Change becomes easier when we accept that which we cannot control and surrender ourselves to that change.

This acceptance opens doors for us to explore.

The change might be painful, but the pain means that there is new growth as the old skin is discarded and a new one begins to grow.

Soon, that which was painful, becomes more normal, and the pain begins to decrease.

Through acceptance and surrender, the change begins to bear fruit.

Change

Inevitable

Acceptance

Surrender

Growth.

That is the art of change.

 

 

Three Beautiful Things This Week

Three Beautiful Things This Week was inspired by a wonderful blog that Three Beautiful Things. Everyday, Clare writes about 3 Beautiful Things that happen each day in her life. It's a wonderful blog! I can only hope to imitate her in a very small way.

1) Whatever this stuff was, I think I'm at the end of it!

I feel so much better!

2)  The humidity is gone! 

That's even better.

3) Tomorrow, I'll start looking for pokey stops again!

Yes!

 

The View, and, No, I Don't Mean the Show

This has been my view this week.

Monday,

I thought, 

"I just ate something.  This shall pass."

Well, a lot has passed, and I'm still in bed with a fever, aches and pains, well, you get it."

Luckily,

my daughter is here with me, and she's helping me so much.

I guess there is good in this.

I might be on the tail end of it,  because I actually feel like sitting up.

I might even play with clay,

but,

I really doubt that.

When I play with clay,

I know I'll be feeling better.

Oh, well,

this is a part of life.

Hope your week has been good.

Take care.

A Morning for Journaling

I'm one of these people, 

and we are few and far between,

who do not want to live on a lake in

Minnesota.

Our  state is known for its 

10,000 plus lakes.

I prefer the life of the city,

the quirky life that one can only find there.

I like the life of the 'burbs, too,

but the city is where I love.

Many times, as you walk in the parks and roads,

you will see Iphones, Ipads, and pens and books being used to record the day, the hour, the minute, the flying thought

that we all have, 

and, 

not necessarily want to share with the world, but just something to remember for us.

Alone.

There is comfort in isolation for me.

There is comfort in knowing that I can be alone, and still record my life and thoughts without sharing in a 

community.

Don't get me wrong.

I believe in community, but most of the time I prefer isolation.

Journaling helps me to preserve my isolation.[

No one is allowed to enter this world with me.

I use my phone to record the world in pictures.

I actually use Facebook, one of the biggest, most outrageous communities in the history of mankind to record my world,

but that world is the world I let people see.

In my journals, I record that which is most meaningful to me.

I record that which no one else knows or cares to know.

I record that which is most precious to me.

I record that which no one can see but me.

I have thrown away most of my earlier journals.

There were good reasons for that.

There was a great deal of pain, abandonment and rejection recorded, 

and

it was not something for others to see.

My journals, back then, were a means of release for me

and 

a means of realizing I wasn't wrong, no matter how many times I was told I was wrong.

Those journals saved my soul.

Now, I look at journaling in a different way.

They are a form of fun, even though I might rant, they make me feel good.

They entertain.

Some of these journals, I might leave to posterity, in case anyone wants to know how I felt or thought or acted

and,

most importantly,

why.

We live in tumoultous times.  

There's a lot to be remembered now.

There are a lot of questions that we need to answer.

Look in my journals.

You'll see how I felt and why.

Now, it's time to return to them.  

You know how I use my journals.

How do you use yours.