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GRAB A CHAIR, LET'S TALK
Everyday we are faced with thousands of thoughts . We wake up with ideas already formed, and often we get up already knowing what we are going to do. We wake up already thinking, thinking…
Walking from bed to shower, or even from the shower until we leave the house, how many thoughts run through our head! Thoughts of work, family, personal, feelings of love, longing, joy or sorrow, all in a lightening minute.
The other day I was reading an article that said humans have approximately 60,000 thoughts per day, and that 48% of those thoughts are negative. I was impressed with it, and how this can affect our day to day.
Nobody is perfect, I know. Often it’s difficult to avoid negative thoughts before a situation. But the more you think negatively, the more we’ll have bad influence in our own thoughts and things will become worse than they really are.
On my nightstand I have a little calendar from the cult Seicho-no-Ie, given to me by my sister. There is a good thought and positive phrase to be read everyday. When I awake, I turn to my little calendar, sometimes still half asleep, and I read the daily message. It’s very important to put good thoughts inside of us.
Everyday, when I’m going to brush my teeth I smile at the mirror. It’s a habit I’ve had all my life. Even when I wake up not feeling well, or with a headache, or discouraged, or bored with something, I smile at the mirror. It’s amazing how a simple gesture like this can makes us feel better. A smile, as well as a simple thought , has a great impact in our mind and body.
And to notice how our body responds to our thoughts, the same way its responds to our emotions.
I’ve also read something interesting that said: “Think of something you love. How do you feel? Now think of something you hate. Next , think again what you love. How do you feel? Your whole body feels the changes depending on what you’re thinking”.
We often see people who think negatively all the time. You certainly have a friend that have negative thoughts all the time, or a person with whom you work, who always thinks negatively. Have you noticed that almost everything in that person’s life is complicated?
It’s as if there were maze of thoughts and situations inside of her. And she doesn’t know how to untie it.
There was a person with whom I worked here that was this way. He always arrived complaining of the traffic, the weather, work, phone calls, wages, wife and his children. When I saw Joe, I know I had to have an “extra positive vibration” to greet him. He was always somewhat a bit annoyed with my joy. Like he was asking himself “why are you so happy”?
I’m grateful, very grateful with all the things God gave me. In these years of my life, (that are not few) I went through difficult situations, very difficult…. But I always tried to have in front of me a picture with a beautiful landscape. I always have had in my car a CD with my favorite songs. A book on my bedside table. Flowers on in my vase. A canary to be dedicated to. A neighbor to talk to. A friend to call or write to. A hug to give (or to ask for).
And Jesus in my car, on the seat besides me. It’s true. I arrive in 10 minutes to my morning work because it’s so close to home. In these 10 minutes I put Jesus on my side, and talk to Him. Thanking Him, telling Him the news, and sometimes even getting irritated with Him (LOL). I quarrel and say: “Look Jesus, it’s not working”!.
In all the difficult moments I went through I tried very hard to not let negative thoughts dominate me.
I remember a book I read: “Pollyanna” by Eleanor H. Porter. This book tells a story about a young girl who, after the death of her parents went to live with her aunt. Pollyanna is not an ordinary child, she is an “extraordinary” child, with a bewildering joy of living!
She radically changes the lives of an entire city.
I always identify myself with the joy of that character. I have great zest for life, and my love for life supersedes any suffering. The certainty that God is always with me wherever I go, helps me deal with everything.
Sometimes I have negative thoughts, of course. But I brushed them away quickly, doing something that I like, or concentrating in something positive.
I always try to say what I feel. When one speaks from the heart, it’s difficult to do anything wrong.
As Pollyanna, I take THE BEST OF LIFE, the suite juice of all the moments, that I keep carefully within me, as a sacred safe. The sad moments I try not to remember and only leave them buried in the past, as a lesson to improve something in my present.
Everyday when I arrive at my job, I arrive happy. Happy to be arriving, to have a job. For being healthy, to be able to walk, see and feel.
We are in this life for a little while, so it’s best to spend this time in a positive way. The truth is that positive thoughts have positive results. Negative ones wears out terribly.
Something interesting I read and, a since then started doing also: a short diary of good thoughts. To sit for 5 minutes each day and write everything good that happened to me that day. It doesn’t need to be long, only concise. Something I like to remember. As I love to write, for me is easy (and I also like to reread).
I know it’s not easy to have good thoughts when something happens that takes us away from our axis. I remember once, on a hard rainy day, my daughter had gone out with a girlfriend. Suddenly my cell phone rang and it was her. She was screaming but the connection was dropped. And I was petrified…. And she kept saying: “An accident with my car, I’m in the highway…” and she crying screamed – and the connection dropped again. I called my husband, who is super calm and he said: “Mary, calm down, we don’t know what happened, don’t anticipate bad thoughts”.
I drove completely controlled, (I was surprised with reaction) and in the way there (?) I was praying and asking God to take me wherever she was (I didn’t even know where I was going). And I started forcing myself to have good thoughts, saying to myself: “Nothing happened, she is alright””. I slowly calm down, driving through the rain and could barely see. I was taking route after route, as if being driven (today I know it was true!). Everything was fine. And I realize how I felt triumphant for having controlled myself with good thoughts and not lost it.
Here are some thoughts that I like:
"Positive thinking may come naturally to some, but also can be learned and cultivated, change your thoughts and change your world”
Norman Vicent Peale
"True freedom is a pure interior act, as the true loneliness: we must learn to feel free even in prison, and to be alone in the crowd.”
Massimo Bontempelli
"Imagination is like an extra arm, with which you can grab things that otherwise would not be within your reach”
Sartre.
"I learned through bitter experience a supreme lesson: to control my anger and make it as a heat to be converted into energy” Our controlled anger can be a converted into a force capable of moving the world”.
Mahatma Gandhi
"The best and most beautiful things in the world can’t be seen, even touched. They must be felt with the heart”.
Hellen Keller
Besides the good words, always remember that the heart’s power is as big as the brain power. It depends of which we use most. This thought is Mary Fioratti’ s thoughts!
They say the heart beats 40 million time a year.
I believe mine beats much, much more. (so much emotion!).
And I finish with a thought that I apply everyday of my life:
"If you want to be happy tomorrow, try today.” Liang Tzu
Mary Fioratti
