Things happen. They happen all the time. Sometimes we don’t know they are happening so they don’t occupy our thoughts. They just happen. Independently of us.
Then … we hear about an event and we have a personal connection to it; it could be that someone we know is in a certain place, or that a person of our acquaintance has been reported to have said a particular thing.
Then our dormant minds rev up and this event – that we have neither witness or sometimes had confirmed – takes poll position in our minds in the race for air time. All our thoughts keep returning to this event. It becomes our main focus.
We worry and stress about something that has already happened. Independently of us. We worry and stress about something that we cannot change, influence, or alter in any way.
Why?
How does this affect us?
I heard that my nephew was on a long road journey late one night and my sister was concerned as he had not yet arrived home. He had been travelling all day, as he often does, but once I heard that it had been a while since he had been in contact I started to worry.
I asked myself if the worry made him arrive at his destination any more quickly. I asked myself what effect the worry was having on both my sister and I.
Later that evening I was pleased to hear that he had arrived safely but the fact is my worrying did not alter his travels in any way: it only altered me.
My mind was occupied with feelings of dread and concern – for no good reason. There were no negative weather conditions or traffic reports. My fears were groundless. It made me think that it is so easy to slip into a state of negativity as a normal situation.
It occurred to me that I need to train my mind’s power to be more positive.
I had the chance again this week to exercise my will when I heard some news that took me back to a time and situation in my recent past. Someone I used to be very close to told me about a change in their life. I was happy for them, and at the same time I was sad that I didn’t know about it earlier and also that our relationship was no longer the same. After a very short while (only a few hours - which I was pleased with) I had counselled myself back into a positive state and I reminded myself that when I didn’t know this occurrence I was progressing with life in a sensible and active manner.
The change in this person’s life had happened a long time before I knew about it and so it didn’t make any sense to start worrying about it just because it was ‘news’ to me. It had already happened. Independently of me.
If we are not careful we can spend too much time focussing on things we cannot change, and things that do not need to change. They have happened.
Our job, if you can call it that, is to learn to accept things, gracefully and quickly. We can make changes in our current life. We can plan for the future. Our futures.
We cannot change what has already happened. We cannot change how other people think and feel. They are independent of us.
Accept the now. Plan for the future.
Allow your mind to focus on the dawn of the new day and not to wallow in the dusk of what has already past.
Mind power is life power.
In my life it needs to remain positive.
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