Today’s lesson focused on a series of questions to consider given situations where the emotion is perceived as negative and others that are positive. An example of one of the questions is: I am not afraid of _____ for the reason I think. I used this question in particular because there was a situation at work in which I felt afraid – afraid that I hadn’t researched something enough, afraid that I would be responsible for making a costly mistake, afraid that I wasn’t smart enough, not dedicated enough, that I was an imposter not deserving of my job. Yeesh! All of this stuff, all of these thoughts going through my mind, around and around and around; making me feel sick, literally, physically ill. The lesson came to mind – so I said to myself (several times), “I am not afraid of ______ for the reason I think.” Then I got busy. I took the steps necessary to make me feel better about the situation. And lo and behold – I feel completely better and all of that crazy anxiety is gone.
I know people often tell us that if we focus on the positive that is what we will see, that’s what we’ll get, that’s what we’ll experience. That is true – but I think we don’t often receive practical steps to focus on the positive. I see this exercise as being helpful in that regard. Breathing is also good.
Here’s another something I’d like to share this 5th day. The other day a friend of mine posted some comments on Facebook. She had received a spam message on Facebook from some ‘creepy guy’ who ‘found’ her there, wanted to start a relationship, she was the most beautiful woman ever, blah, blah, blah. This friend did not appreciate the message; a response that I think is fairly typical. Anyway, I made a comment to her that was similar to, “On the bright side, you really are beautiful.” To that, another friend of hers, a woman I do not know, said, “Of course she is, that’s not the point.” My initial internal response to this was, “Ouch.” However, I didn’t ever respond again. I reviewed the comments a couple more times as the day wore on and they continued to focus on these creepy kinds of messages and what a jerk the guy was who sent the message.
So, here’s the thing – the point really is that my friend is beautiful. Had we focused on that the whole exchange would have felt good and I mean good all the way into your belly good.
Finally, here’s another thing the course says in lesson 5 – “There are no small upsets. They are all equally disturbing to my peace of mind.”
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