New Year, New List

Oops!  In my last post, I mentioned that this year has been off to a really rough start.  I wanted to vent, to scream, to complain ... but decided to take a healthier approach.  After taking a few deep breaths, I decided to delete the list of problems I'd typed up, deliberately choosing not to give those issues any more attention than they already demand.  I said that there were actually some high points in the past couple of weeks, too, and that I'd much rather focus on them.  And then I ended the post.

So what I realized is that while I did take a moment in my head to think about the good things, I didn't really take much time to focus on them.  I didn't even tell you what they were!  How can I expect that positive energy to circulate and grow if I don't actually take the time to recognize and appreciate the things that bring me joy?  It's nice to take a moment to smile quietly to yourself, but it's so much more meaningful - and rewarding - to actually put it out there.  Let the people who made you smile know it ... and it'll make them smile, too!

With that ... it's time for a new list of things that have made me happy since the start of the year.

At Least There's That

Two Thousand and Twelve has been an absolutely ridiculous year for me so far (I can't believe it hasn't even been 2 weeks yet!).  And I don't mean ridiculous as in silly and fun ... I mean ridiculous as in there have been SO many things going on & going wrong, that I just have to laugh ... to keep myself from putting my head through a wall (or so I don't cry, scream, or hurt someone)!

I was originally going to write a post entitled Really, 2012?!?.  It was going to be a list of all the things that have gone wrong so far, with some snide remarks to follow each one ... and for just a week and a half, it would've been a pretty long list.  I just needed to vent.  But while venting may sometimes be necessary, it wasn't the way I wanted to work through this ... well, not entirely, anyway.  Me being me, I'd have to put a positive spin on things, like I did over the 2010 holidays and again a few months later.  

And then I remembered a quote that I saw in my facebook news feed the other day (I subscribe to a bunch of positive energy type pages, so I get bombarded with daily affirmations of the good in life, things to be happy about, etc.).

So ... um ... yeah ... there is that.  I didn't die.  And I am thankful for that.

You see, that actually could have happened.  A lot of things did happen, but a lot of worse things could have and didn't. So at least there's that.

With that in mind, I'm not going to tell you all the things that went wrong for me over the past 12 days, even to turn them around and find the silver lining.  I don't need to give the clouds any more attention than they demand on their own.  Besides, when I think about it, there were quite a few really great things in the past week and a half, too ... and those things (and people) are much more worthy of my attention.  So while it's always easier to vent about all the things that have gone wrong, I'd rather focus on the things that have gone right.  If we take a moment to really think about it, I'm sure we can find a lot more of those positive things than we realize ... so let us all be thankful for that.

**If you like what you read, tell a friend.  Actually, tell me too - post a comment below!  If you don't like it ... well ... I'm all for honesty, but please be gentle!