Choose to be positive and grateful
The source of this week’s inspiration comes from Marc and Angel Hack Life. This is a great blog full of inspiration that you should be reading every day. Their post on 4 Things You Must Give Up to Move Forward contained one particular piece of advice that I wanted to share:
“Choosing to be positive and grateful for what you have now is going to determine how you’re going to live the rest of your life. So look for something positive about today. Even if you have to look a little harder than usual, it still exists.”
–http://www.marcandangel.com
When you live with chronic pain there are many days when it is difficult to find something to be thankful for, many times I struggle to crawl out of feeling that the world is falling apart and that things will never get better. It’s easy to get hung up on the negatives in life, to focus on the pain, and what I can’t do. But, the reality is that there is always something good in EVERY day. There is some small thing that I can be thankful for.
To help myself get out of these pits when they occur I’ve done two things.
- The Mindfulness Bell – this is an app on my phone (android). It is nothing more than a little bell that rings about every half an hour. When it rings it reminds me to stop what I’m doing and just breathe. To stop and think for a moment and relax. During those few seconds I try to think about what is good in that moment and in the day. I don’t think about what I need to be doing. Just taking that moment and really focusing on breathing eases so much of my stress, and reducing my negativity.
- The Thankfulness List – At the end of the day (usually while enjoying a nice bath) I stop to think about what was good in my day and make a list. Sometimes I struggle to remember just a few small things, other days it’s easier. Mostly, I just try to come up with three things, even if it’s something as simple as I didn’t have a fight with my husband, or that I actually remembered to pull something out for dinner. So often our lives are spent in extremes, it’s as if things have to be either super awesome or the world is coming to an end. The majority of the time it is neither of those, most of the time it’s just simply “ok” and that’s ok.
Being positive and grateful is a choice that we can make. Once you make the choice and focus on practicing it it becomes easier. The longer you do it the more it becomes a natural state of mind. That doesn’t mean that it will always be easy or that you don’t have bad days. It requires focus and making the choice day after day.
You can choose to be positive and grateful, despite chronic pain. It is a choice. Share on X
Melissa says
It was exceptionally hard for me in the early stages of Fibro…to go from an intelligent, well-spoken person to someone for whom pronouns became the primary part of speech. It’s not just that I can’t think of a word; it’s like the word never existed.
I was also very physical pre-Fibro. I mowed the lawn, gardened, cleaned the house, did laundry and all if it in the first few hours after waking on a Saturday (after working all week). I felt a deep sense of accomplishment when I finished it all.
Then Fibro began and an accomplishment was loading the dishwasher.
I took a lot for granted before I got sick. Now I have to set Fibro-reasonable goals and I’m grateful when I meet those goals. I’m grateful when I can keep plans. I’m grateful when the weather cooperates and doesn’t trigger a migraine.
There are still times when that internal battle happens, when I still want to push myself or will myself to get more done. But, I know I’ll pay a heavy price for not listening to my body. I also found that new Fibro symptoms have happened when I pushed too hard. It terrified me the first morning I got out of bed and my right leg collapsed. It went on for weeks. And that leads me back to gratitude.; I was thrilled when it stopped happening – as suddenly as it began.
Julie says
I’m thankful you are here. I’m enjoying getting to know you.