Discover What’s RIGHT in Your Life!
An Exercise
As you go about searching for your best possible health, it’s so important to consider emotional factors as well as physical ones. Yes, the physical symptoms are what have your attention when you’re not feeling well – no doubt about that. But if you can bring yourself to set that aside for a moment, it will only help in the process of getting and being well.
You may be understandably upset, because you don’t feel well, and on top of that your kids aren’t behaving, and the television news is pointing out yet another situation in the world that you don’t like, and your spouse forgot to do something that you considered really important, and the car is doing something funny and you’re afraid you’re going to have to stop and get it looked at, and everyone wants money from you, and what do they think, you’re made of money? And…and…
When you’re in that state, you begin looking for more and more things going wrong, and more evidence that your life isn’t really going all that well.
But what if you were to stop and look at all the things that are right in your life? You might find out that not only are there many more things going well for you, but taking that thought and going with it for a few minutes might start making you feel better.
For instance, there’s the obvious. If you have a roof over your head and a car to drive, you’re better off than many people around the world. Don’t get caught up in thinking that your roof or your car aren’t exactly what you want – you’ve got them!
How about those unruly children? Many people don’t have them, and wish they did. The same for your spouse, who probably has done many more nice things for you than forgetting this thing that was so important. Don’t you love having them in your life? Can you imagine your life without them? If you answered “yes” and “no”, then you’ve got a lot going for you.
And that news that’s on the television? That’s been carefully crafted to get and hold your attention. Yes, of course, bad things occur in the world. But stop and think about all the good things. All the families enjoying their time together. All the school classrooms where learning is occurring. All the bright sunny days all over the world, where no extreme weather is happening and day-to-day life is going on just like it always does. All the many families going to their Sunday church services believing that all is ultimately well with the world and taking the time to be grateful for it. All the days you wake up, and the world continues, and the sun is shining, and there isn’t a hurricane and your home is still there, and the people you love are still there and there’s good hot coffee (or tea!) waiting for you. There’s so much more of that (which is boring to the news channels and doesn’t attract viewers) than anything else.
You can begin looking around you, and as your eyes rest on individual objects, you remember how much you liked it when you got it, or who gave it to you as a gift, or where you bought it and how much fun you had that day. You most likely go into your closet each morning and choose from an assortment of clothing that you wanted when you got it. Then you go about your day using so many small taken-for-granted things, like toothpaste, or a spoon, or a pen. Now think about how grateful you are to the people who actually came up with the idea for all those things, and the people who make them, and package them, and ship them, and work at the stores where you pick them out
Does it seem silly? It may at first, but the point is that when you begin to look more at things you like about your life, you begin to enjoy your life more. It takes your focus away from what’s hurting or bothering you.
All we’re saying is that life is good. Not choosing to allow that into your thoughts hurts you only – no one else! Simplistic? Yes! The bottom line is that your chemistry is heavily influenced by your thoughts and emotions. Making a change in your thinking can play as big a role in improving your health as diet, rest and exercise – and can go a long way toward making you feel better.
So…
…right now, when you look around you, name just ONE thing that you’re really glad to see?