A ‘bad’ mood? Now where did that come from? Maybe it is that we have too much to do; we have to do something we don’t like; something happens or other people are irritating, frustrating or annoying us? Who likes being in a ‘bad’ mood? Does it seem like there is nothing you can do about it? Once the mood hits often the best we can do it ride it out. All is not lost though, if we prepare ourselves in advance then when the ‘bad’ mood pops up its head we can flip it.
A) The Bigger Picture
The 3 masons
A man passed by 3 masons asking each in turn, ‘What are you doing?’ The first, who was angrily chipping away, answered ‘I am chipping these stones and I can’t wait to finish!’ The next said, ‘I am chipping stones to help to build this wall’ and the third replied, ‘I am helping to build a cathedral’
Check out the bigger picture and see how you are contributing to it. Seeing how we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves helps us to not get caught up in the smaller things and it gives us a sense purpose.
Purpose is connected to our inner values, so living on purpose means that we are able to express our inner values in what we do. What resonates with you? Peace? Freedom? Equality? If there is a lack of purpose it may not that you need to change your job, it could be as simple as deciding to change the atmosphere of the office from one of competition to co-operation or stress to calm.
B) Instinctively Positive
We can’t control everything that happens… we can aim though to have control over ourselves and our response to what happens. In order to be able to respond positively when ‘stuff’ happens we need to lay the foundations in advance- when things happen and our energy becomes low it is much harder to begin doing this. Instead if we begin now then when things do happen we will find that our responses become instinctively positive rather than negative.
Things we can do:
-practice gratitude, every hour find 1-3 things to be grateful for
-build up trust in ourselves (that we can handle situations) and trust in life (life is conspiring to help me)
-support others. Sometimes we try to flip our mood by comparing how lucky we are in relation to others. A better way is to look around and ask, ‘What can I do to help?’ It could even be to take out a few minutes a day to send out loving thoughts to others that are in need.
-see if you can re-direct your energy, for example, anger redirected can become passion and irritation enthusiasm
- we know that we can’t control other people so why try to? Do you like it when others try to control you? Practice taking a step back and see everyone as an actor in this big drama of life, even the villains- that is their role.
-begin to notice what triggers a bad mood in you? Are you going to let situations or others decide how you are going to feel or are you responsible for how you feel?
C) Our Thoughts
Look at your thinking. Notice how you are thinking and how you feel. We can think of our thoughts as seeds. Our thoughts create feelings, if we start to think about something strongly enough we start to feel that, for example, ‘I feel good today’. These feelings become the roots of the tree. Out of the combination of our thoughts and feelings the trunk of the tree grows (our attitude).
When attitude changes… everything changes. It acts like a filter and dictates our behaviours. Life is hard. Life is a battle. Life is a competition. You can’t trust anyone. Everyone is out to get you. OR Life conspires to help me to fulfill my purpose. There is something for me to learn from this situation. I am lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment