PEACE
Stepping onto the front porch before my run, I paused, something I don't typically do. Recovering from an injury has forced me to pause, slow down and heal. Gingerly testing my ankle I looked around. The sky was clear, the stars winked brightly and it was crisp; creating a beautiful winter morning. A peacefulness soothed the morning. As I queued my tracker and music I was filled with graditude for getting to experience peace before the chaos that usually defines my days. Venturing out my thoughts took me to peace and my renewed desire for more.
Busy is this era's buzzword. Days are packed with everything possible and more; at times even being busy for the sake of being busy. The societal "standard" dictates we should be plugged in and "on" from pre-dawn to dark of night. The result can be devastating; exhaustion, unhappiness, hopelessness and simple existance. Reflecting on my thoughts I paused to rest the ankle and breathe the chilly air into my lungs. Peace is necessary before, during, and after the hustle of the day. Starting off again I grumbled at the slowness of my pace, but realized the true gift it has brought me; a greater sense of tranquility and a renewed strength in starting the day. I am able to pause long enough to center my soul and experience the myriad of gifts surrounding me. Winding my way through neighborhoods I smile at the Christmas lights. They seem brighter and more cheerful than normal. My soul smiles.
What if we all started our days with peace? What if, instead of rolling over, turning off the alarm, grabbing our phones and launching into the day, we woke up 15 minutes early? Grabbing a cup of coffee and stepping outside to just listen, experience, feel and to center. What if you wished a quiet good morning to Orion or lifted your cup to the Big Dipper. The morning may be crisp or cold, but your heart will swell, your mind will ease and the day will begin in a more beautiful way.
POSITIVITY
As I returned from my run my heart was full and a smile tickled my cheeks. Switching my phone out of tracker mode I unconciously began my electronic plug in; email, FB, Instagram, Voxer, Snapchat . . .Unsurprisingly negativity owned the internet; social posts with name calling, blanket statements, negative political rhetoric. The peace of the morning began to slip away, thoughts began to tangle and I could feel my mind clouding. My mood plummeted as my mind started chasing around what I saw. By feeding my mind negativity I was inviting more negativity to compound the impact. Anger and frustration became dominate thoughts and the posts I saw were not the family pictures and experiences, but the reposts that validated or rebuked my negative mind set. In those situations the smallest things become mountains. Like magnets, negative attracks negative and positive attracks positive.
"Tomorrowland" with George Clooney illustrates the power of negative and positive in a thought provoking movie. The loose basis of the movie shows the end of Earth due to the negativity, devisiveness, and hate that is being talked about and aired constantly through media. The power of one girl and her refusal to think and believe negatively derails the expected outcome. Positive thoughts have more power than we can even imagine! Days when I choose to focus on the good my day is brighter, the people aroound me smile more, my kids and husband are happier. It is not that those days don't have challenges, because they do, I just choose to find the good.
What if for the rest of this year we chose to perpetuate the positive cycle? What if we posted only fun pictures of the good things in our lives? Or if that doesn't work we can fall back on Thumper the rabbit's quote, "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all." What if each morning begins with peace and positivity, a cup of coffe, the stars and loving the posts with familly pictures, funny stories, christmas programs and you whispering two things you were thankful for?
PURPOSE
As I shifted my mind back to positive things like unicorns and lollipops I began to tick through day's schedule; run-finished, shower-finished, get kids up, breakfast, work, appointments, supper, cleanup, bed and then start it all over. I realized how easy it is to get into the habit of simply existing. Each day is essentially the same and easy to follow the same routine waking up 10, 20, or 30 years later with the same thoughts, the same schedule and the same melancholy existance. I read a quote by Robin Sharma the other day that said, "Don't live the same year 75 times and call it a life." Wow! That thought circled through my brain as I thought about the daily steps that led me here. I truly do like schedule and would be a little crazy without it, but at times it seems as if we are serving a prison term; at the end of each night scratching another hash mark on the bedroom wall with a dull plastic spoon, marking what? Another year of existence? Realizing I look terrible in prison orange I decided to focus more on living the day with purposeful intent. Work was not just a paycheck, but the opportunity to make someone smile and lessen their personal burden. I could make a difference, no matter how small. I paused to smile and say "Good morning gorgeous" or "Hi handsome." I noticed the joy of a dog going for a walk and when the boys got home I hugged a little harder and listened more intently as they shared their day. I worked through the day with purposeful intent, not just to get to the end and start over, but to experience everything around me. I paused in my pursuit of adulthood to recognize with a child's delight the golden moments I am gifted with every day.
We are not guaranteed a single thing. We need to seize, celebrate, experience and believe. What if we celebrated the small moments? What if each day was purposeful rather than rote? What if we stopped worrying about busy for the sake of busy, stock piling vacation and talking about how exhausted we are and started purposefully planning a vacation? What if we purposefully found joy in simple daily pleasures? What if we stopped talking about how tired we are, how old we are, how many ailments we have and decided to live and enjoy? What if we celebrated our gifts instead of feeding our fears and insecurities. What if we made the choice today to live with peace, positivity and purpose? What would that create in our lives?
During this holiday season I invite you to begin each day with peace, focus on positivity and be purposeful!!
