Life is dynamic. The one thing that is certain is that nothing will remain exactly as it is right now. So why is it that we get so bent out of shape when things start changing? Well, we are creatures of habit. There is safety in keeping things constant and unchanging, especially when things are going well. When life throws you a curve ball, or things just don’t seem to go your way, it is important to take comfort in the fact that things do change and this too shall pass.
Life has its ups and downs. That’s a given. We can’t avoid feeling the downs of life, but we can do things to minimize the time we spend there. Often, when we find ourselves in a painful place, we tend to get stuck there for longer than we need to. Panic sets in when things don’t go well and we look to find a reason to explain or justify the pain we are feeling. The irony of this rationalization is that whatever we focus on tends to magnify itself into our lives. It is important to acknowledge that you are unhappy, but dwelling on that unhappiness will only bring more pain. Instead of trying to understand the cause of the unhappiness try asking yourself what makes you happy, what brings you joy and what excites you.
Tuning into feeling good and diverting your focus from what is not working in your life will shift your energy and change your mood. The main reason why we do anything is because we think it will make us feel better. In our quest to do or get what we think will make us happy, we actually tend to get distracted and stuck on the obstacles to our happiness. There will be times when things don’t go as anticipated and it’s okay to feel disappointed, angry or hurt. You can’t feel great all the time. In fact, not feeling good allows you to appreciate when you do feel good. Allow yourself to feel whatever you’re feeling without guilt or condemnation. Acknowledging that you feel bad is important, but it does us no good to give fuel to the bad feeling. Use the disappointment to remind yourself of what you wanted rather than what you lost.
Remember, life is ever-changing. There will be days when everything is going your way and you feel great, and there will be days that you would rather forget. The key is to remember that nothing lasts forever.
When you’re feeling bad, know that things have a way of working themselves out. There’s a power in knowing that you have an ability to take the edge off a bad situation by shifting your focus to what you do want. When you’re focused on what makes you feel good your body gets flooded with happier emotions and you take on the energy of those emotions. If you choose to, you have the ability to dampen bad feelings so that they don’t have such a charge. When things start to turn around, you want to take advantage of feeling good. When you find something that brings you comfort or joy, you want tune into those good feelings for as long as you can and take on that energy.
Giving your attention to those things that you want to see more of in your life will change your energy and the way you look at life.
“When you’re riding high on the wave of life, enjoy every moment of it. When life takes a downturn, know that it’s only a matter of time until another wave pushes you back up.” (Dr. Julie)
Copyright Dr. Julie Doobay 2015
