The fact that we are suffering through a miserable economy is not news. We’ve been in this mode for over five years now and counting. At times such as this it seems as though we’re going through a lunar eclipse that casts darkness over the entire planet. In this case the darkness is the gloom that is being felt worldwide.
This is not the first time we have experienced such despair. This is not even the worst financial depression the world has faced. Although very few of us were around during the Great Depression of the 1930s, what we’re currently experiencing would have been a joy compared to what they faced.
How do you remain positive when there are so many people and things around you suffering? Most of us know of someone who has lost a job or home or even worse. If you don’t know them personally all you need to do is turn on the news or read the periodicals. When gloom is this pervasive it reaches nearly everyone in some shape or form.
One thing to consider, if or when you are filled to the brim with gloom, is to reduce the amount of negativity that you allow to penetrate your mind. Your mind has an almost unlimited capacity for storage, yet the things that we allow to dominate or proliferate in it takes the full spotlight. It’s like one rotten apple that spoils an entire barrel of good ones.
Perhaps I’m doing myself a disservice as a columnist, but I would strongly suggest that you turn off the news and discard the periodicals that constantly fill your mind with negativity. Instead, find ways to feed the mind with positive things.
Imagine that your mind is a cup. A cup has only a maximum amount of liquids that it may hold. In your cup you may put in muddy unclean water or you may put in mountain-fresh water. If you think of putting just a teaspoon in your cup per day for forty-eight days, your cup would be full of muddy water. The same would be true if you put forty-eight teaspoons of pure, clean water in the cup, it would be full.
Using this analogy why would you constantly put garbage in your mind daily? If you are feeling gloomy perhaps you are “full of it.” Why not instead make a more desirable choice to feed or otherwise fill the mind with wholesome positive thoughts and ideas.
Think about what you are feeding your mind. Are you watching too much television? Do you spend too much time gossiping or socializing through the net? Do you spend too much time around negative people that constantly have bad news to pour into your cup? Until you make an accounting of what you are putting in your cup (mind) you will not do anything to change your current status.
Keeping it fresh means intentionally going out in life and choosing what goes into your mind. Even though you cannot avoid the negativity of life, you don’t have to swim in it. As they say, “birds may fly over your head daily, but you don’t have to allow them to land on your head and build a nest.” You must be in control over your mind.
Go out and take a walk in the woods, in the park, along the beach, through the neighborhood, or just sit silently and quietly on a clear day and gaze at nature. You may also do it in the rain or snow. Find a way to flush out the garbage with which you have been gorging your mind. Consider meeting new friends if your old ones insist upon filling you with muddy water. You don’t need to be rude to them, simply find a way that no longer permits them to "dump" on you.
Change the way you look. Color or cut your hair, if you still have some. Wear a different color than usual. Grow a mustache, beard, or cut off the one you have. Do anything to create a new image of the person you would like to become. Find ways to keep life fresh and new rather than dull and boring. If you are in a rut, exit it - fast! Part of that is a clear and intentional choice.
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