Take Note of What’s Going Right

I get a Whispering email from my coach, friend, and spiritual guide, Paulette Terrels.  Yesterday’s mentioned this phrase.

It seems so easy to trip over all that’s going wrong. As if that’s the only thing that speaks to us. Certainly it can seem like the loudest voice. But by making simple choices during a day, to smile more, to choose the positive slant, to note what’s going right, we can make profound changes in our lives.

You might start by noticing how often you fall into awareness of what’s going wrong.  It may surprise you how many times in a day you see only what’s going wrong. See if you can switch it – right there and then – to what’s going right. All it takes is one moment of awareness. Start asking, what is working?  What is good?  Sometimes all it take is a glance at a beautiful day, or a loved one to restore your perspective.

Then see if you can start to notice and count the things that go right.  When the printer does its thing without a hiccup.  When you get through on the first try.  When what you asked for is delivered complete and on time.  How about after a very satisfying meal?

Something disappointed me yesterday and I found myself under a cloud of gloom the rest of the day. (It didn’t help that it got so dark so fast!) I suppose it could be looked upon as a good thing to allow myself to grieve. To feel what I was feeling. But it sure felt lousy.

This morning, however, when the sun shone again I was able to see things in a brighter way. That maybe I didn’t get the reaction I wanted, but there were some things that went rather well yesterday, ways I got what I wanted and what I expected. There was a delightful little surprise that now I can see offers light along the way that looked so shadowed and difficult just hours before.

I wonder why I wasn’t able to see that yesterday? Once I told myself the story that I was let down, I began to see everything under the guise of disappointment. Yes, feeling your feelings is good, but maybe if I had been more aware I could have felt my feelings and been done with it in a few moments, rather than several hours. It was, after all, not devastating news, just falling a bit short of my expectations.  But I wasn’t able to see that until much later in the process.

Maybe if I’m in the practice of seeing what’s right, I’ll be more aware when I slip into the pool of what’s going wrong. It’s really rather odd how when you’re in that mode, things that aren’t so bad take on a negative pallor.  And then I remember a time three years ago when something similar happened.  Up pops something  from last month. How about the time when I was 10 and didn’t get what I wanted on my birthday?  See, nothing ever goes my way. . .  Yikes!  The human mind is a strange beast.

It’s all just a matter of watching, being aware and making a new choice.  To look around and see what is going Right, instead of allowing what isn’t to drag you down.