My day started with an irritating and unsatisfying call to a customer service department; followed by a dose of worrisome at the observation of winter’s harsh effect on my front porch; followed with a side of frustration at the lack of observable progress I’m making on a project. All before 9 a.m. Sigh.
What do you in cases like that – where your day is starting out in a direction you don’t like? I maintain there’s always room for course correction. We may not be able to change the circumstances but we do get to choose how we respond.
It just so happens that a group I’m working with is using this month to focus on compassion, with an equal emphasis on self-compassion. So I took some time and breathed in those energies today and watched what a difference it made.
It brought a spaciousness that allowed what had become pretty myopic vision room to expand so I could see what my next forward-action steps might be. And that shifted everything. I was back to seeing possibilities, and how much nicer is that?!
I knew I had turned a corner when I heard my husband laugh in his sleep and realized what a delightful sound it was. And what a delightful sign. A do-over. And so I began my day again, and this time I started with laughter.
Do you ever do day do-overs? What things are in your bag of tricks when you need to shift energies? Do share.
Practicing loving kindness for yourself is so important. It lays an important groundwork for feeling it toward others. Way to take care of yourself
So true Kate!
Day do-overs is a wonderful concept. There are definitely days where this comes in handy. Sometimes a nice deep breath or a moment of fun and laughter or a great song on the iPod is enough to completely shift gears.
I’m really working with breathing practices to shift things on a quick basis and I’m loving it. And I agree, music can be great for shifting things as well. That tends to be a little more of a reach for me though as I’m often playing in silence. But it’s fun putting together a playlist for those do-overs-called-for occasions.
A do-over for a day. Great idea. I loved your post. I might have to remember that 18 different times in a day.
LOL – yep there are some days that require multiple do-overs. And for those there’s usually some chocolate consumption involved in there somewhere for me. 😉