In a time when there are so many negative things happening to leave me with negative feelings, I have started an activity between my little, TheLittlePrincess and I. Maybe you would like to join us.
We text each other constantly throughout the day and talk by phone every night before bed. During all of that communication, we both tend to vent to one another. While it is good to be able to have someone you trust to vent to, much of what we vent about isn't really worth the negative energy. Focusing on the negative can cause us to have a less than desired outcome for our day overall. I know we can't fix that for all things, but for the dandruff of life (the inconvent but not life altering), I feel we can improve our outcomes.
When we are feeling like we want to verbalize (in word or writing) a negative (dandruff), we are going to think of something we like and randomly send a text. Today, she responded to my assignment, "my beanbag chair is comfy; does that count?" I responded. "Yes, it does."
I told her that I know we both want the other to have a positive day, so ensuring that all non-essential comments be positive when possible would really help guide us to that outcome. The goal is to have a greater capacity to handle the truly negative things when they arise, though hopefully, infrequent.
So, she sent a message about the beautiful, dark, moody sky that she loves, and I shared my thanks for the rain because the trees and animals rely on it. Then later, a note about loving cheetos with a picture of the current snack and a return pic offering to trade some Goldish for some Cheetos--a fair trade.
When we receive these random messages, we will know they are to protect against something negative we wanted to verbalize but didn't want to give oxygen to. Then we can respond likewise to send positive support in return. If we can be disciplined enough to choosing positive in the benign, I believe we can see a positive shift in our mental health and our life overall.
Life is heavy enough without adding benign negativity to the pile. Maybe we can recover some of the joy we've lost thought by thought.
And to those who are experiencing hell right now in whatever way that you are, connect with SOMEONE to talk about it. Those who are suffering in fear of the unknown, I send you peace and strength. My thoughts are with you and yours.
