Tuesday morning, driving to work on my 1-long commute, traffic (i.e., cars in the passing lanes that are not passing, thankfully, I travel in the opposite direction of traffic) and listening to the news created a tsunami of negative thoughts. I had already woken late (my alarm was not set—thankfully, I have an internal alarm that doesn’t let me sleep beyond 6 AM) and to vomit in the dog crate (gross!—thankfully, it was in the crate). I was tempted to sit down to write a few clever comments on Facebook. Thankfully, I opted not to.
Yes, there are circumstances that I don’t like. The path of life sucks, sometimes. There are times that I want to say: “Stop the world. I want to get off.” In times like this, there are two choices: 1) express the negative thoughts and 2) express gratitude. Notice that following each negative experience that was a cause for gratitude. My commute could be far worse. I am heading south rather than north (toward Portland). I have a job to commute to. I made it safely to work. It wasn’t raining (which makes driving in Oregon worse). I woke up. I am sure someone died in his or her sleep last night. The dog was fine. The vomit was contained. The list can go on, and the day is just starting.
I have the choice going forward. I can take on the day with a positive attitude and gratitude (grattitude), or I can succumb to negativity.
I am sure I won’t make it through the day with perfect grattitude. Hopefully, though, the overall progression will be in the positive direction.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!