Oh, that Forrest! How wise...
Ya know, life can be very much like that box of chocolates, not knowing what you're going to get, but yet, still how delicious that box is!
With all of the chaos going around the way - and not just us! I'm completely amazed by all of the ones that you would never have thunk come up to us and telling us their tragic/chaotic stories. People who were believed to really and completely have it ALL together - I've decided to take control of what I can... MY LIFE! And everything that's surrounding it. Can I control my finances or how someone else treats us (like luring our first pet into a cage and dumping her somewhere and acting like it was our fault!) or the endless phone calls from collectors of telemarketers that became old about 13 years ago when I first got my own telephone! Nope. I can't control them. But, I can control MYself, and how I look at things. We constantly allow so many toxins into our bodies from stress and why on earth give them that power over us?!
This is what I've started... It's small and many folks already do it, but here goes... For every bad (OMG! My life is ending!) situation that we're faced with, I find 3 positive things that have come out of it. Between that and my "Positivity Journal" that I keep, my attitude has really changed and I FEEL COMPLETE. I've even noticed a change in my children and husband. It's something that I've always known, how mom feels is how the rest of the family feels... but, this isn't only a change in my life, it changes how my children look at things and hopefully will represent the way that they choose to rear their children.
For the past... oh 8 or 9 days, every time something bad happens, be it bad news in the mail, kids fussing, bad neighbors doing illegal things and getting away with it, or just a gloomy, muggy day - like today- I jot down 3 things that are good that have came out of it. It may even be that I take out an old receipt from my purse and scribble down a thought or two.
For instance, when the cat situation happened (Long story short - Evil neighbor, lured innocent house cat (illegal), dumped far away (also illegal) and is not ashamed by her actions) it seemed as though no one would listen. It's not like we're the "cat people", we have 2. They're indoor. They snuck out one night. Loved it. She didn't.
One night, after the cat napping!, I was sitting there thinking... Is that okay? Can someone just take something that's yours (or in this case ReAnna's) and dump it somewhere and it's okay? If that's the case I could take all of the neighbors' barking K9's and ship them to the Reservoir.. So, I decided to call around and see what I could find out. Well, the police know nothing. We printed up the codes for them! They tell us to contact Humane Society. HS says call Sheriff. Sheriff is township, not city. They say call cops. That ticked off my mother, who happens to be more passionate about this cause than I am and she's contacted code enforcement (who never got back with us). Then, that guys secretary got tired of him not calling us back and gave mom the name and number of the City Manager! So, now they, too are on the case. Apparently, if it gets resolved a lot of folks may or may not get into some trouble for not doing their jobs. All I wanted was someone to at least give her a warning and say she can't lure pets with food and trap them. Sheesh!
Well, after being emotional about this for too long, I decided to be positive... First of all, we rescued the kitten that had been coming around for fear that she, too, may be dumped (and of course, I became hero to the children who have been driving me insane with wanting her since she showed up). And she is just a doll! The sweetest personality of any cat. When we let her in for the first time, she went right into the litter box, so we think that she was probably dumped in our woods, like so many of the strays over here. Secondly, it's made us appreciate the pets that we do have. We don't think of them as a burden (not that we didn't enjoy them, you've heard the stories) but a privilege to care for them and give them a loving home. #3 positive feeling was now our neighbor avoids us like the plague! It may not seem too positive to you, but we've dealt with her bad attitude and dislike for our children for the last 7 years. It's so nice to go outside and completely be ignored! It avoids that awkward tension experienced when you had to find something polite to say quickly without it seeming made up.
Also, as far as my husband being laid off and injured... though I thought for a long time of all of the negative things, I failed to see the positive. How we've received help from assistance programs, the time spent together - virtually stress free, having a helper around the house, getting projects done that have been ignored for years!, and who doesn't like the smell of coffee brewing and bacon in the skillet. My husband happens to be the absolute best bacon maker ever! He gets them so perfect. Chewy throughout. Mine are burnt in some spots and raw in others. UGH! We've been able to do our bible studies much more thoroughly and draw closer to Jehovah as a family. In fact the hard thing that I dealt with in trying to think of three positive things was that I couldn't limit it to just 3 things. There were so many wonderful things that have come out of this situation.
These are just a couple of my situations that I've changed my thought process on, but I have a notebook that's filling very fast, and you get the idea. I've even found that things that normally would irk me, don't. Like, if I don't feel it's important enough to take out my pen, I just let it fly!
I have so many books, bill books, budgeting and finance, self-help... Wouldn't it be great if others told me their stories and I put them together with mine? ....I'd like to have a book like that.
