Bright lights

Harvey McKay once said this, "Optimists are right. So are pessimists. Its up to you to choose which one you will be."

Wow

Second day of the Corona virus lock down here in the UK.
Not that ive had chance to notice too much yet, as Dawn and I have been quite busy distributing food parcels and getting shopping in for some of the less able of our community as well as cracking on with the hard work of prayer.

I've chatted pastorally to a few people online and on the phone, and there seems to be a common theme just now as people struggle to adjust to this new approach to life.

It is so easy to allow the negative side of this lock down to consume us.

Pessimism

Pessimism can eat you up and spit you out in a mangled mess if you let it.

And

As Harvey McKay says, Its up to us whether we choose to be a pessimist or an optimist.

So

This choice

Its a straight one

but one that can lead to either the bright lights of a positive future or the darkness of a negative existence

Hey

Its amazing how it is so easy to develop a bias toward negativity. By the same token it is equally amazing how difficult it is to head towards positivity.

Or is it?

It's pretty natural to focus on problems, it's a fact that minds point out the things that are not working, or our perceived flaws or our mistakes, or worse the obstacles that lay in front of us achieving our positive goals.

What is not that natural it seems, is for us to look towards the brighter side of things turning out for the better.

Hey

Here is the thing

Our sense of joy and contentment grow rapidly when we focus on things turning out for the better (Not necessarily for the best) but for the better, in the long run.

And

when things do go wrong, optimism can help us to recover, to cope and to rebuild.

Ask yourselves these three things today and give yourself an honest answer.

1. do you tend to think that not so good circumstances or feelings are here to stay, or do you remind yourselves that this situation will pass and better days are coming?

2. Do negative things tend to consume you and shape your character, or are you able to get a balanced perspective on things?

3. Do you tend to take on board negative things all too easily and blame or accuse yourself for the negativity, or just as bad, blame others or circumstances? Or are you able to see the treasure in the dirt as it were?

If the answer is revealing that maybe pessimism is hampering us, then maybe the key is this;

We need to choose to be optimistic, practice it, embrace it, demonstrate it>

To do that I know from my own healing journey from the depths of despair to a happy and content life that I had to work on and develop resilience.

Resilience is a must have in life.

And

it can be nurtured and developed in any life.

Its your choice

I read this somewhere and can't reference it because I took a photo of it pinned to a wall at some event or other I attended.

It says this

"People with good mental strength take responsibility for their lives. They don't blame others for messing up their day, instead, they take control of their own thoughts, feelings and behaviour. They understand that life isn't always fair or easy, but they dont sit around feeling sorry for themselves. Resilient people acknowledge that everything they do from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep is a choice."

So

Hey

In the middle of this unprecedented time in our history, when maybe someone out there is feeling a bit lost and alone. Have a think about this..

Better days are ahead!

Be resilient.

Embrace maybe the positive things that this exile brings.

It's a choice.

Massive blessings on all my readers this day, and i'm especially praying for you right now.