My default position is that of a cheerful optimist.
When the going gets tough enough to get me down I remember that I am not special and that other people have experienced the same difficulties that I am struggling with and have lived to tell the tale.
I also remember learning that feelings are spontaneous reactions to events that happen to us. They rise and fall away and we don't have to feel guilty if we have negative reactions such as anger, disgust, envy etc. We do not have control over them and we need not be ashamed by our feelings. They are transitory unless we choose to allow them to take root in our thoughts.
What matters is how we handle these feelings; what we choose to do about them. Do we strike out at someone who has hurt us in some way, or do we try to understand the situation more fully and maintain the relationship? If we are feeling envy, do we allow the feeling to fester or do we neutralise it by counting our blessings? If we are feeling a bit miserable, do take solace in the bottle or go outside into the sunshine, take deep breaths and listen to the birds singing and walk past flower beds drinking in the beauty on display?
Personally, I think happiness is an amazing and wonderful feeling, but it does not last. It rises and falls, like every other feeling. Contentment, on the other hand, is a state of mind, a thought process. So is gratitude.
I am content with my life and grateful for all of the love I have experienced.
"Gratitude is the memory of the heart." Mother Mary McKillop, Australia's first and only saint.
Mary McKillop is an inspiration to me. She experienced many obstacles and betrayals in her lifetime but chose to love rather than retaliate in kind.
