Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Shoot Me With A Gratitude-Bazooka!









My day started regularly and then as "regular" days are sometimes prone to do, it degenerated into a love-fest of frustration. The minutia clogged my mind, in a slow motion domino-effect, with everything that wasn't going right in my day. It felt like hell and my anxiety level conveniently rose a notch for every fallen domino.

The list of "WTF?" grew and grew until my final errand of the day. There was a complication with the purchase. This was the straw that broke my back! This was my "postal moment"...well, almost. No one was actually hurt but the frustration was a catalyst to release all the pent-up emotion from my regular-day-with-complications. I sat in the car and blew my stack! I didn't subject some poor sales associate to my hulla-ba-loo...BUT...I really gave that steering wheel the what-for! It'll never drive straight again! Whew!

Yet...after the cursing stopped, the tears dried and the heart-rate settled, I realized...the simple reality was: It was just another day with a few frustrating moments. The rest of it wasn't nearly as "blow-my-stack"-worthy, as I'd made it out to be. Seriously. The bills were paid. Food was in the fridge. Cash was in the bank. Gas was in the car. Clothes were on our bodies. Shoes were on our feet (really cute red sandals for me! *squee*)...and a whole host of other GREAT things that were blessings and joys!

I had to ask myself why, then, was I ready to figuratively, kick a sick puppy?! What was the big deal? Why was I "pulling my hair out"?!

I had my "A-ha!" moment at home, after the workday, the errands...and the frustration. I was snuggled on the couch with the kids. I'd let anger and dissatisfaction with my circumstances-of-the-moment drown my sense of gratitude. Simply put: I was so caught up in the "wrongs" of my day that I couldn't see nor appreciate the things that were RIGHT!

It was very cathartic to sort through my day with an honest and open heart. My solution was simple: I needed to get shot with a GRATITUDE-BAZOOKA! (I'm not particularly inclined towards the use of mushy "self-help" psycho-babble but I love words that are hyphenated with guns! Weird! Heh.)

When my day starts to ease into a series of wrongs...I intend to combat that by shooting myself with a GRATITUDE-BAZOOKA. I will acknowledge the things that are right with my day and my life. There is some good in every single day and when the "bad" tries to over-shadow that good...I will purposely fight it with  gratitude.

Don't get me wrong, I won't gloss over a bad day with a "goody-goody" plastic smile...but I won't drown in the negativity either. 

...and that's turning a frown upside down!

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