Posted by Maybe I am overly opinionated and judgemental, but I often find my weeks or days are either improving or deteriorating. One or the other. Not much stasis these days. This C-19 time puts everything under the microscope, especially our moods because we have so little to distract ourselves from ourselves.
I often think of it as a spiral. As things happen– I oversleep, then spill the sugar bowl all over the floor, wear 2 mismatched shoes out of the house, get a flat tire on the way to pick up my son, the dog poops in the corner, and then I am living that nightmare– sitting in the back seat of the car trying to drive with my feet on icy roads while my babies are in the front seet. That is my vision of Hell in a HandBasket. Life is spinning out of my control.
Alternatively, I am spiralling up– I found a $5 bill in my pocket, the office buys us lunch, I get awarded a new project, my daughter hugs me, a friend pays me a compliment. The dots on an invisible spiral keep heading up and I notice, acknowledge, and appreciate them. Then I see more, then more happen, then the line connecting the dots keeps spiraling up, and I am on the spiral going up too.
David Viscott said “You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be”. Viscott was a radio psychiatrist with a TV show as welll in the 1990’s*. He had a lot of good inspiration for us before he passed away in 1996. “Your ultimate goal in life is to become your best self. Your immediate goal is to get on the path that will lead you there.” is another one to write down for a Monday Mood.
We all know this spiralling up is not an accident. It is all in our perception of events. Right now, our economic stability is in danger, and everyone’s health is in danger from an invisible force. But I have nightly dinners with my family, I am getting good self-care and self-reflection time in, and the time I have now to pursue projects is awesome. (Also, I don’t have to be around negative energy because I can screen out contact with people who don’t add to my life–I literally put a post-it note over her face in Zoom meetings and smile, smile, smile at the camera).
We have little to no control over so much these days. But we still have our behavior and our hope. So we can choose to see today as a spiral up: good things are piling up above the rubble, and we are jumping on the sprial energy with a solid gratitude list practice, checking off things on lists, and voicing appreciation out loud on a daily basis**.
Breakthrough Action: What dots on your spiral up have you collected this week? How many can we collect amidst this virus rubble? Can we try again tomorrow to write them down, count them up, and visualize a bright golden sparkled spiral coming from our hearts up in to the Heavens?
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Viscott
**https://positivepsychology.com/positive-reinforcement-psychology/
3-Legged Table: Reframing Our Beautiful Chaos 
Great post, Anne–I like your “spiraling up” concept.
It is our only choice, to look for positives, right?
Awesome and very motivational article! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome. These are tough times to keep up with.
That’s such an amazing concept of visualizing oneself, what one wants to become.
It doesn’t erase the tough things at all, but it helps us to NOTICE the good things we are doing and learning.
Visualization was part of ancient Indian philosophy. However, slowly we have lost that art. It is a very powerful tool.
It is powerful, and yet I forget to use it when I could really benefit.
If I may, getting on the path to whom you want to become is a lot easier if you throw away the things you don’t want to be. All of us grow up being taught things that later become useless. Only, we hang onto them even when we know they are useless. It feels comforting to know they are there.
But really, they are weighing you down, adding stressors where there is no need to be stressed. Free up that space, stop hoarding what is holding you back. Make room for the new you.
And learn to love yourself.
I love that!! Excellent points to keep flinging things of no use off our upward sling. Ruts are old and comfortable. New roads, New ideas, New ways are only uncomfortable until we practice them.
Post it note over the face. That’s a good one! I also have a similar dream where my feet never quite reach the pedals to drive properly.