The mind exists in its own place....

Mind Over Mood

We are all different as human beings, but along her life journey she has learned that we can be different ourselves, at different times, depending on the frame of mind we are in. Her mood can affect how she perceives things and what opinions she might have about many things such as a movie, a meal, a conversation or even a significant person with whom she shares her life. From one day to the next, she can feel a certain way about life in general, go to bed and wake up the next day having a totally different outlook or point-of-view. She has learned that there are circumstances that can change her minds process and even the weather (Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder) can affect how she reacts to things as well, so she now practices reacting more slowly and giving more time to let a situation sink in and consider it more thoroughly before saying what she truly feels.

The problem is, when dealing with life-changing situations - if she lacked a sense of hopefulness and allowed herself to be affected by her current mood - it would cause her to make major mistakes, and so, in order to meet life honestly, it was all important to her to take charge of her feelings and emotions and thereby have the ability to see things  as they really were and not just from the perspective of her current mood.

She often used to upset herself as she had developed the habit of viewing situations in her life in a negative and unreasonable manner and so lived in a world of black and white thinking - maximizing the negatives and discounting the positives. She overgeneralized and over estimated the likelihood of negative outcomes. This use of unhealthy self-talk had often left her anxious and depressed. To not let this continue to happen, she has learned to 'check her mood' and has made herself aware that she needs to ever be mindful of what triggers her actions and reactions.

Awareness exists by our natural ability to distinguish and therefore it is an absolute fact above all subjectivity of what right and wrong can be. But once she became aware, she needed to develop skills that altered her mind patterns and she now does not shut down her sad or negative feelings, does not ignore them and hide from them, but has opened the door and welcomed them. Anger, grief, jealousy, resentment, frustration, loneliness, sadness, despair and all other uncomfortable emotions visit us because it is in our best interest that they do - they come knocking at our door because they bear a message and she has learned over time that she needed to stop feeling afraid of them or afraid of herself when she experienced these emotions. She needed to be mindful that when the worst happened in her life, it was not life punishing her - it was instead, life pushing her  to wake up, to see that these difficult-to-feel feelings had come to reveal her own strength and wisdom, her faith and depth of vision for the present and for the future.

She is now acutely aware that no matter how down she can get in her life, she will always be given an opportunity to find a balance, as there is always good in everything - there is no light without darkness and no good without bad. She now knows that she can learn from her mind patterns - she can practice 'mind over mood' and learn that she is strong, ready, willing and able, and has it in her to be complete and to inspire herself and others with her own unique footprints.