Manifestation: The
materialized form of a spirit.
This past weekend I enjoyed the company of good friends on
Friday and Saturday with wine nights and birthday dinners -- but then found
myself in a very quiet place and alone on a rainy Sunday afternoon. As I have alluded to in the past, I am a bit
of a 'Type A' personality and I enjoy keeping busy and feeling productive. So here I was with the only productive
activity on my list for the day being "Do Laundry" and I had
successfully checked it off my list by lunch.
In my moments alone, that many of you pine for and consider a peaceful
space, I was suddenly able to set aside all of the joy of the last few days and
settle in on the loneliness that come with the fact that I was watching the
light hearted comedy 'New Girl' alone in my apartment while laughing out loud
and hearing my own voice echo down the hallway.
I was pretty up-to-date on the season so two episodes later I was at a
dry river when it came to 'things to do'.
The pity party was soon to follow and my imagination was
running amuck: "I wish I had a boy
here to cuddle on the couch with while enjoying a fire and a movie. I wish I had a small dog to curl up on my lap
and at least pretend we were conversing.
Maybe I should visit home so that I could at least have my parents
around to laugh at my jokes -- oh wait, they are out of town too! Why, oh why, do I not have a text message to
return, a man to dote on me, or a posse of people to keep me company on this
rainy day!?" Oh yes, poor lonely
me.
In case you missed the tone of my last line, I will
emphasize the sarcasm in describing my next move: telling myself to snap out of it!! I have a great life and this wide open day
with rain as a relaxing backdrop is something for me to make the most of -- so
I hopped in my car and drove to the LACMA (Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of
Art). I bought my $10 ticket and
wandered the exhibits and the hallways all by myself for over two hours. It was the best Sunday afternoon I can
remember on record.
As I wandered the halls, staring at the exhibits and telling
myself what a gift a day like this truly is, I nearly laughed out loud at the
memory of a heavy heart drowning in a pool of pity just hours earlier! I was in a great mood and spirits were high,
yet I had done nothing much beyond change my own internal frame of mind.
When times are good it is so easy to focus on everything we
have, and if we are mindful enough, to express gratitude the generous people
around us or the Higher Being for the blessings in our life. But what about when things are so perfect and
plentiful? The times when our minds can
run a long list of everything we DON'T have in our live? That is when we are in charge of our own destiny
and we can choose to focus on what we HAVE or HAVE NOT. It's the basic idea of Manifest Destiny. Yesterday I was on the edge of the cliff
towards full free fall into the pool of pity and instead chose to focus my mind
on all of the blessings and goodness that I can -- and will -- seek out in
life. How will you CHOOSE to MAKE
tomorrow a great day?
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