So here I am in the Midwest. We appear to have gone straight from a blazingly hot summer to winter with a full-on snowmageddon pre-Thanksgiving with about five days of proper fall days in between. Noooooooo! I love fall! Bring back fall!!
Well, apparently fall is not coming back. At least that’s what a whole lot of people have been telling me. And denial is not just a river in Egypt so I still dream of fall and wonder why the skies are all gray and it’s 25 degrees out.
This is seriously not my favorite weather. I’ve heard friends talk about how depressed they’ve been feeling, how they don’t feel like getting out of bed or going outside.
I get it. Seasonal affective disorder is totally a thing. I won an award reporting about it at KPLR11 news when I first started out as a news reporter; and I covet my light box. ☀️ 😂
So here’s the thing though. Regardless of the weather or whatever less-than-favorite or downright heartbreaking thing has happened, we can still keep choosing to feel happy and have more fun.
This doesn’t mean you won’t ever feel sad and you ought to stuff down feelings of sorrow – cuz that doesn’t work (those feelings will find their way back up like energy building in a volcano 🌋). Just the other day I was all waterworks when I laid flowers on the grave of my kitty cat who passed in the spring. I didn’t push down the tears. I let them come and go like a flash rainshower in Florida on a hot summer day.
It wasn’t long after that I was laughing about something – probably about the kitten I adopted recently who chewed through a bag of food (apparently I need to store his food in a bear box).
My point is we can keep choosing happiness each and every day throughout the day no matter what the circumstances are. And the cool thing is that we are like magnets so the more we feel happy, the more we attract things we enjoy.
This is a checkmate move as author and teacher Michael Singer describes it (author of The Surrender Experiment and Untethered Soul). As he said in a talk, the best poker players don’t get all the best cards, they make the best of the cards they are dealt.
He said that if you have bipolar disorder, have fun with it. See how high you can go one day and how low you can go the next day. If someone is driving ten miles under the speed limit, challenge them to drive 20 miles under.
So whether you love the cards in your hand right now or they are the stinkiest cards in the deck, you get to choose. Have fun with whatever cards are in your hand right now!
Bypass waiting for circumstances to be a certain way or waiting for the best hand in the Game of Life. Cheat and move yourself to happy now.
This doesn’t mean that you will never feel heartache or sorrow again, because honestly if you love someone or something with all your heart, chances are good you will feel disappointed when they’re gone.
Going Straight to Happy
It’s also possible to have more fun. Here are some simple ways to shift your mind and go straight to happy:
- Ask yourself, “How can I have fun with this?“
- Ask yourself, “What are three things I can appreciate in my life right now?“
- Play a What I Like Game – Ask yourself, “What do I like about what’s around me now?” (e.g., I like the color of that wall. I like the sound of the water fountain. I like that I have two legs to walk on. I like that I have plenty to eat. I like that I’m inside on this 25 degree day, etc.)
- If you’re feeling a lot of intense emotions, just STOP and FEEL. Observe the emotions like a storm that’s passing through. Let them come. And let them go.
- If you’re rehashing something that happened in your head or talking about it with a friend and feeling upset, STOP. Just because someone did something this morning or yesterday that you absolutely hated, it doesn’t mean you have to invite them to have breakfast with you now in your head. You can simply come back to this moment right now and play the What I Like Game.
And then who’s the winner in the Game of Life? Winner winner chicken dinner, you are! 🐓😀
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