A jolt of positive energy can give a huge boost wherever you find yourself at these days. We need these little bursts of light at any life stage: The taking care and concern for those you love, when your kids are young or teenagers, when your parents age, if you yourself are in high school and just trying to get through, when you’re in your twenties or thirties and trying to find a way to make a living and figure out “what comes next in life”.
When I have struggled and looked back in time later, I generally say that I wouldn’t trade those harder times, despite their trying nature. Gratuitous negativity and gratuitous worry, or ruminative dwelling on the bad, never got me anywhere. People do move away from those who “do” a lot of this. It’s a contagious thing and like a virus, no one wants to catch it, including the one who’s doing it!
What I’ve found is that it’s helpful to take time to “do” the buzzword of self-care, in the form of Epsom salt baths, journaling, reading a book, spending time offline, making handcards and more. Turning to God in prayer and asking, “please give me strength” is always a comfort in and of itself. There are so many ways to do this, and everyone has their own way in towards personally feeling brighter and more full of wellbeing.
A hit of positivity. A buzz of light. A dose of goodness. I’m allergic to a lot of negativity, but see that it’s all around us.: from the negative news to people sharing only what’s going wrong in their lives. We all have “not great” things going on, whether it’s health news or worries about the world, BUT once we’ve found a good way to try to constructively vent without blowing up at people, we can get help to talk about this proactively with trained mental health professionals or other wise counsel. But many times, a sprinkling of good energy is all it takes to make a world of difference in one’s outlook and day.
Asking oneself “what went well today” at the end of each day, (or even after a difficult small part of any given day,) can help. It’s human nature to hone in and stay on what did not go well. Making the bigger effort to leap to what went well will help you and I to feel better about a situation, and may give some hope for the journey.
A person I play bridge with online told me on zoom recently, “you’re just la dee da,” to which I replied, “well, you don’t really know what’s going on inside, but I will tell you I wasn’t always this way. Plenty of things have gotten me down in life.” But trying to give the benefit of the doubt and seeing things with a good eye is a big and long-haul job I’ve been privileged to take on over the years. I heard that in the “job of life lessons and things to grow from,” God doesn’t let any of us become unemployed.
I listen to lectures on positive thinking, what things help with preventing or recovering from burnout in any arena, I try to do healthy things like exercising and getting outdoors, connecting with friends, making time for the relationships in life, spending time on hobbies, and trying to remember that sometimes, all it takes is something small. Just one small change. It’s often referred to as doing “the next right action, step or thing.” Taking that small step towards the good and reigniting the positive flame inside for that moment in time burns bright and overwhelms the negative, even if only for a few moments in time.
Today, my positivity hits were watering the plants, seeing the shoots starting to break through the soil, talking to my husband, enjoying good grape tomatoes, and allowing myself to rest when I needed it. A friend told me this evening that she wrote a poem. You’ll find what resonates for you with getting your own good shots of positivity. May you be blessed to find that light and shine it bright.
It’s such a gift to be able to come into your life, and have you come into my life, though this blog. I love hearing from all of you! Please feel free to share with us what brings light and good, positive energy into your life. Do you have any ideas to share? Email us at [email protected] and have a glorious rest of May and early June, full of lots of fun things!