“Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties.”
– Sarah Ban Breathnach
This seems to be a reoccurring theme with me this year – what to do-think-say when things go wrong. Sometimes I find I need to write about things a few times before I actually can put them into practice – aka: remember them in the time of need. This quote came across my desk today and reminded me once again that it’s the reframing of my attitude when faced with difficulty that not only makes me feel better about it, but often times leads me peacefully through it. Sometimes the only frame that fits is walking away entirely and there can be a lot of good found in that. If anything, it shows you what a road you should’ve never gone down in the first place looks like for future reference.
One time, in a difficult situation, a person said to me, “If that’s what you want to think in your head to make yourself feel better, go ahead!” They weren’t being nice. They were hopping mad, but I never forgot that sentence. Ironically it turns out that’s exactly what you have to do in difficult situations. Reframe it. Then pause and look around for the good in it. Stop and think, there’s got to be some good in here somewhere, right? Usually there is. It helps a lot when I remember to stop and do it.
And so, as another day goes by, I sound like a broken record, but it takes 1500 repetitions to learn something to the automatic level, I think I’m only around 750, and…I have written.
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