I have decided to be a more positive person. I am going to look at situations with hope rather than with fear. I am going to give people the benefit of the doubt. I am going to trust God, other people, and myself. I am going to smile at strangers. I won't sweat the small stuff. I'm going to keep things in perspective and not lose my cool. I will be optimistic all day long.
That is what I tell myself.
I want to be all those things. I wish I could shake the overly-critical, over evaluative side of myself. I want to fully enjoy the joys that life brings without feeling the need to inject a dose of "healthy" skepticism. Sometimes, I don't want to see both sides of an issue, be reasonable, or exercise caution.
I want to change.
Yet, unless I'm really focusing my energy, I fall back into the same patterns that I always do. It is so much easier for me to focus on what needs to be improved, changed, or tweaked, than to accept people (or worship services, or jobs, or books I've read, or my body, or my house). But in reality, each of these things in my life are wonderful gifts and however much I may believe they are not "perfect," the truth is, I am missing out on a lot of joy by over thinking things.
This is what I want to change. I want to stop missing out on joy.
Yeah I feel like there are limits to what we can change. Maybe those limits are drawn by what skills or gifts we have. I would love to be more organized and less forgetful but I often times get the sense that my brain was just not wired to be that way. However, I think there are things like the way we treat people, and the way we respond to situations that can be changed. So I think you are on to something here.
ReplyDeleteSince I make a living trying to help people make changes, I find this all very interesting. I also have to believe that if people truly want to change, they can take steps to bring themselves closer to that change. Even if it never comes "naturally," there are things we can do bring ourselves closer to the people we want to be... if we are willing to take those steps. Some people want to make change and stay in the "contemplation" stage for their whole lives.
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