“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” ~Eckhart Tolle
Our thoughts are powerful. I recently got an idea of how much so, when I had to take on a whole new career. Sure, writing is my passion, but the freelancing is sparse and that means so is the bank account. A simple little shift in my perspective kept me from feeling lost and sorry for myself.
At first, I was disappointed in myself for not getting a job in my chosen field. I built a novel in my head, beginning with the opening, “it’s unfair.” Why can’t I find the job I want, when others who are less qualified, experienced, etc. are getting top positions? I began to see the classifieds and my email list as co-conspirators attacking me personally. Honestly, in my book, I was beating myself up, and often.
But then I stopped. I reached down deep and tried to unravel why I was felt so upset. My story was not doing anything positive for me. In fact, I realized, that I was too self-absorbed and too attached to my current plight to appreciate the bigger story. This was just a chapter and not a very good one in fact.
Truth. The people looking at the job applications don’t know me personally. They probably didn’t even read my resume. I really couldn’t blame them, but I was. And that was not fair. If I were going to find a job, any job, then I would need to step back and accept that my education and experience might be unimportant now. As soon as I recognized that my past life was just that, I was able to move forward. And guess what? I found a job. I changed my thoughts and my outlook, and found a way of learning new skills, to hopefully advance and keep this job, or find a different or better one down the road.
In the last year or two, I’ve been into self-study and meditation. I read a lot about the “power of non-attachment” and creating a new reality through our thought processes. I learned how to rewrite my story and use the latest chapters to bring me closer to where I want to be.
This new sense of awareness showed me how I create different stories in my head and that I often make mountains of molehills. I tend to take something insignificant and make it something huge. I create drama and complications in my life. But I can stop. I can rewrite the sentence, chapter or the whole novel.
We can’t always control the situations we find ourselves in or what happens to us. But we can control how we react. By shifting our thoughts to something positive, we can have less drama in our lives. Life can be more straightforward, happier, freer. We can learn to accept what happens to us on a daily basis without creating a horror story. By recognizing our mistakes and the idiosyncrasies that befall us, we can create a new plot, a new chapter, a new beginning. We accept, surrender, and move on with our lives.
So the next time (and I know there is going to be next time peeps) something I don’t like happens, I will not take it personally. OK, I’m going to try my darndest not to take it personally. I am going to live mindfully and stop creating stories that are not necessarily true. I will be calm, cool, and collected, and I will not cause myself unnecessary stress or unhappiness.
You have the power to control how you react to the situations that affect your life. Be that new breakout author. Sell yourself a positive, mindful and happy story. You deserve it.
Stay Motivated and Caffeinated!😘☕
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