Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Fall

As I was driving today in my car that looks like a toaster on wheels, I saw leaves blustering and littering the streets. The sun was shining and the air was crisp. The kids were talking and singing as we bopped down the road.

As I used the word littering to describe the leaves, I realized that so much in our life is about how we choose to see our circumstances.

Fall is my favorite time of year. Leaves everywhere is a welcome happening to me. I am sure for some others, leaves falling represents more to pick up, a bit of messiness, the passing of summer. This concept gave me pause for thought.

Preferences exist for each of us and there are definitely situations that don't jive with who we are or speak to us. But, in general, we have the great power to choose our perspective- and the opportunity to appreciate what we have and what we experience.

I realize that I sometimes lose sight of this power, choosing to complain or allow discontentment to creep in. The fact is that most folks I run into these days are somewhat discontent. I have come to the fact that it may not be so much about circumstances but choices in perspective, day to day, that really determine true happiness. Often I just need to reroute my thinking to get to a better place- remind myself of the hidden chances; see the beauty of the moment and be open to all possibilities that exist.
The other action on the path to true happiness is that of letting go, but I will save that topic for another post.......

2 comments:

Mars Girl said...

You know, I like leaves. All my neighbors spend hours of their weekend, using leaf blowers and such, to remove them from their yards and driveways. I leave mine. I prefer yard to look like the less perfect state of nature...

Ky said...

Isn't that the truth (about discontentment). I think that in a lot of cases, it's human nature to focus on the negatives instead of the positives. But there is a fine line that people cross (IMHO) when their perspective on life becomes "toxic". You know the type, I call them energy vampires. Anyway, I like to focus on the beauty of any given situation. If I'm stuck at a stop light (frustrated), I'll look around and usually find something that I would not have normally noticed and realize how fortunate I was to have had the extra time during my hurried day to appreciate it :-) On a similar but different note: Simple Abundance is an awesome read if you aren't familiar with it.