I am finding that love, particularly looking at life through love, immensely helps my frame of mind, and state of happiness, especially when times are tough.
This has been a particularly difficult week for me, coming off of a difficult year, for many reasons. Every person has tough times throughout their life. And the fact is, the older we live, the more tough times we will experience, particularly with illness, cancer, and the loss of loved ones. It is simply the nature and reality of life.
There is much written on self-help, happiness, motivation, mindfulness, etc. and often one of the top techniques is to look on your life through the mindset of love.
I have found this to be so very true. If I start feeling bad for myself, if I center on what's going wrong or what hurts or what is hard - well then, life sucks. However, like many of the experts say, if you center on what is going good, on living a life of gratitude for what you have, you truly do feel better and thus will have a better life.
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This picture is of my mom, my older sister, and I. It is 20 x 24 and is on a hard particle board surface. I love this photograph and am so happy my mom has kept it over the years. The first time I saw this picture, I had assumed it was taken by a professional photographer at a scheduled studio session. My mom looks so beautiful and happy. When my mom told me the circumstances around this photograph, it made it that much more amazing to me. It is from The Ohio State Fair in the summer of 1972. In the picture, my mom is 7 months pregnant with my younger sister, I am 13 months old and my older sister is 4 years old. My mom said that the temperature that day was around 103 degrees. Anyone who has ever been pregnant will tell you that end stage pregnancy and hot days do not mix well. If that were me, I would have looked stressed and exhausted and there would not be a laughing smile on my face. But that is what amazes me about mom, she always makes it look easy - and she adores babies. In fact, she is 70 years old and is still amazing with babies; she is even watching one on a daily bases even today. My mom made the first year of my twins life so much happier and easier for me with her generous love of her granddaughters. I was overwhelmed being home alone with two babies, but my mom literally relished it, loving and laughing her way through the day with them. That is love.
So, when times get hard, when you feel depressed over a particularly tough year or a difficult time, I highly recommend following the advice out there, and think of people, circumstances, vacations, any and all experiences that you love or loved experiencing. It will put a smile on your face and lighten your heart.
Lovingly yours,
Me
Motivational Moment:
I was talking with my mom about the above picture and telling her just how much I love it and how it puts a smile on my face when I look at her beautiful smile. This was a good positive moment for mom and I this morning, as mom is currently getting ready for her mom's funeral. Part of the conversation was about how truly mean some people are, as mom had discovered some letters as she was going through her mom's house. Since I refuse to give these people any more thought, I will not go into details here, just suffice it to say that it makes my heart hurt to know such mean people exist. So ... back to the happy thoughts of the picture ... mom was telling me her memories of that day back in 1972. She said I was in a stroller that had a canopy that provided shade for me but it blocked me from her view. As she was walking, someone tapped her on the shoulder and said to her, "I thought you might want these" and they handed my mom my socks and shoes. It seems that as we were walking, I was shedding my socks and shoes (and was working on the outfit) and tossing them out of the stroller, one article of a clothing at a time, as we walked. Mom said it made her laugh and it might have been what she was laughing about in the picture. This moment of laughter and love today was a good healing moment for mom and I during a difficult time.
To those of you struggling through a tough time or with difficult people, I challenge you to think about someone or something that you love and to specifically NOT think about the person or situation that is making you unhappy. Trust me, it works, and life is too short to let the unhappy thoughts, or even the mean people, take up your precious time.
Peace, love, and hugs,
SG
