I’m struggling with being present
in this moment because something happened today to upset me. More accurately, something didn’t
happen. And this thing didn’t happen or
not happen for the specific purpose of upsetting me. It just happened. Or didn’t happen. What didn’t happen was a phone call I was
expecting. The caller would have said,
“You’ve been accepted into the Master’s program of college.” But this didn’t happen. I was told that if this call didn’t happen
today (Friday), I would get another call on Monday telling me I was not
accepted.
Of course, it’s
possible that what I was told would happen won’t happen. It’s possible that things happened on the
their end that prevented things from happening on my end the way I was hoping. It’s possible I will get a call on Monday
telling me I’ve been accepted. Or it’s
possible that I won’t. Anything is
possible. I can’t control events. I can’t control other people. I can’t control what’s happening. And I don’t want to. The only things I can control, that I want to
control, are my attitudes and my actions.
Attitudes and
actions are equally important and they go together. Changing one usually changes the other, but
there’s no recipe. Sometimes I have to
change my attitude first and this causes me to take right actions. Other times I have to change my actions first
and this creates a better attitude.
Ways I change my
attitude are:
·
Have a different perspective.
·
Get new information.
·
Read something inspirational.
·
Pray.
·
Practice gratitude.
·
Focus on this very moment without reliving the
past or imagining a future.
·
Practice the presence of God.
·
Surrender my need to be right or have things go
my way.
·
Smile.
There are probably
other ways, but those have all worked and still work for me.
I can also take
action and, as the word implies, these are usually physical. Some examples are:
·
Exercise.
·
Walking away from something that’s bothering me.
·
Doing some physical work. (Cleaning or organizing has often done
wonders.)
·
Helping someone else with his or her problems.
·
Getting something to eat.
·
Drinking water.
·
Cooking.
·
Meditating.
·
Taking a nap.
·
Praying.
·
Smiling.
·
Making a physical connection with someone.
·
Changing the situation if I can.
All of these have
also worked, though not all at the same time, and some more than others.
The point is that
we don’t always have to suffer. Problems
are a part of life. Maybe even suffering
is a part of life…but only a part, not all the time, and probably not as much
as we allow it. We can Get Started and
Keep Going towards the life we want…no matter what’s happening.
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