I Think Maybe You Should Laugh

As I made the bed I realized that generally I am sound asleep between 1:30 a.m. and 4:00 a.m.

I’m always thankful for sleep. And I know here and there I sleep more than that, but I can generally always count on those hours.

It really doesn’t take very long to spend the night at our house!

So hey, come on over!

Philip who gets to the office in the morning, hours before I do generally, sent me a text early, from the office.

“Regarding a conversation I think I heard between you and Tiffany last night, this is what she needs to do.”

Then he went on with his advice.

“But if I was dreaming, then please disregard.”

She’d been telling me about a situation that was frustrating her and trying to know what to do.

I suppose our conversation had disturbed his sleep.

So I listened for a while and then I told her that sometimes, we just have to turn situations around by changing our perspective. The way we think about them. The things we say to ourselves and others.

For some reason positivity is good for us. Isn’t that a noble thought? It’s not original with me. (Haha…I crack myself up.)

Our circumstances don’t always change, but the way we relate to them can change.

Researchers say that when we look for something to be grateful for, dopamine and serotonin is released in our brain.

You and I need dopamine and serotonin to feel happy.

So when I’m feeling down, or sad, or frustrated, or less than…

I have to turn those thoughts around…make the negative thoughts positive!

And “honey”, that ain’t always easy!

(That’s one reason I created the list that I write on each day.)

It keeps my focus on things I want to write down, and not on frustrations I may be feeling.

So this morning…this one right NOW! I got to practice what I preach!

My computer that I’m using for this blog post…and the printer and the photo editor…ggggrrrr. Oh, my so frustrating. I felt barbs and bristles come up inside. Then those frustrations set me off and I started thinking about a list of other things that are bothering me. The frustration that started my downward spiral of negative thoughts were so tiny and in significant and those thoughts began to cause other issues that honestly are monumental to raise their ugly heads, in the recesses of my mind. Just a chain reaction of thoughts and negative emotions.

And I realized that I could let this early morning frustration set the tone of my day or I could turn it around. I COULD choose.

I could choose to take my negative thoughts captive and replace them with positive thoughts and actions.

And so I chose to be grateful that I could WALK back and forth from the computer to the printer. I’m thankful that I have fingers to type and eyes to see.

I chose to be active and continue to write this blog post even though I wanted to walk away and say, “What’s the use?”

Consequently, this blog post is absolutely nothing about what I sat down to write. I suppose I’ll tell y’all that story later. Today, I guess it’s just raw and ragged and real.

I’m thankful that I have a husband that cares enough to give good sound advice, even if he did wonder if it was all a dream!

These situations are light hearted and insignificant, compared to some of the things I am dealing with and the things that you are facing. I know because you’ve told me so.

You’ve kind of told me you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders and my heart breaks. I wish I could fix it.

But it is true that we can focus on the difficult. And feel it and mull it over and become IT.

Or we can state gratefulness and be kind and focus on the moments that we treasure.

And through all the noise and confusion, I hope you can hear my voice in the distance saying keep on, look up, stay grateful, be kind,

and laugh!

I think maybe you should laugh! Just choose to laugh.

And I’ll look you square in the eyes and say,

“I’m tryin’! But honey it ain’t always easy!”

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P.S. Don’t let my mother know I said ain’t. And thank you for your kind comments. Like my daughter says, “You guys get me!”