Displaying items by tag: gratitude

We’ve all been there. Surfing the web and being hit by non-subtle advertisements for something that you had no idea existed but now are ready to make a spontaneous purchase just because it looks so darn cute. Or practical. Or efficient. 

We all can remember the last time our equilibrium fell by the wayside. Maybe it was overindulgence in some tempting libations or fancy food one night. Maybe it was an overzealous gym workout and the next day the soreness in your muscles caused slow and cumbersome movements. Maybe it was even that one time (or several) when Netflix got the better of you and before long, you lost track of time and watched the entire season of a show in one sitting. Whatever the vice, I bet you could kick yourself afterwards.  

On a recent walk in my neighborhood, I noticed something that got me thinking of the human condition. I live in an area where the houses sit side by side and an unlined road cuts through the neighborhood. Driveways lead to garages or front doors and the grass on some lawns is so high that outside cats lounge in the grassy fields without having to worry about being seen. There aren’t any designated sidewalks for pedestrians so I have to walk on the roads that wind throughout the neighborhood, vigilant of cars that appear from all the intersections.

The human mind is more powerful than we can ever fathom. When you start to filter in positive thoughts, your life will begin to transform. ~Buddha

Life tends to either build you up or knock you down, and we never know which one it will be at any given moment. The latter seems to be happening to me lately. I am caught in a chaotic swirl of the universe’s energy that caused a series of bad luck events. All of them happening within a three-month span knocked me down for the count. I didn’t want to get back up. I wanted to lay on the ground, hiding from the world so that nothing else could get me.

When one negative event after another gives you the proverbial punch in the face, it can be hard to think clearly or rationally. Emotions tend to take control and make everything worse. The mind starts spiraling into a paranoid view of the world. “What else is going to happen?” haunts your thoughts, despite your best efforts to remain positive.

The pain and grief we feel when we lose a loved one to death or divorce is one of the most intense feelings we will ever have. The emotion literally feels like physical pain. Like a hammer came down on your foot or a brick just fell on your chest. If you’re human, you have experienced these things and have developed ways to cope that work the best for you personally.