Frame of Mind

It's interesting to note that we can choose to let everyday problems bring us down or we can choose to rise above them.

Case in point...I still can't get my Kodak Easy Share program to work properly which means I can't list anything on Ebay. I probably need to buy a new furnace for my house. The laminate flooring in the basement awaits repair. I'm definitely having a root canal next Friday.

These are 4 of my major life problems at the moment but I've made the wise decision that they aren't the worse things in the world to have to worry about. I've been through much worse in my life and, believe me, these are really minor glitches.

Years ago I read that we make our own choices about whether or not to be happy and that struck me as so darned true. It's one of the reasons I don't believe that depression is necessarily a chemical imbalance in the brain. When I suffered from depression years ago it did take many years of counseling and drugs to bring me out of the miasma of misery I'd allowed myself to sink into but what if I'd decided early on that I wasn't going to let circumstances destroy me? What if I'd made the choice to rise up instead of sink like a stone?

I think we make our decisions on how to handle the day when we wake up in the morning. If we allow ourselves to be in a lousy mood then the day will not go well. If we say to ourselves, "well, things could be worse so enjoy what you can", then we have a good chance of a happy day. It's all in your frame of mind.

I have to admit that sometimes it feels good to give into a bad mood for a while and curse our demons but letting ourselves wallow in darkness isn't good for the soul. My daughter has a motto she seems to live by, "Live, Love, Laugh", and I agree with that wholeheartedly. Life is too short to waste on unhappiness.

Today I'm going to go out and rebag last fall's leaves and forget about cameras, furnaces, root canals, and flooring. The sun is shining and the air is warming by the minute. My precious grandsons bagged all the backyard leaves last fall and left them in the driveway where they got wet and ripped. No problem. It's a lot easier to rebag them than to rake them up so I'm still a happy camper.

It's all in your frame of mind.