Cheerful

Here is lovely Sandy Robertson sporting a lovely scarf perfectly matched to his colour scheme. I wonder if Sandy's new scarf might be part of a plan to help some people who are unhoused. Does anyone in Edinburgh know?

I had a great conversation with a colleague today. We started off by discussing some of the stories we tell ourselves, very often negative stories like 'I can't draw', 'I can't lose weight', 'there's nothing I can do'... Often these stories are based on a particular incident and then generalised to be all encompassing. The more we tell ourselves these self-limiting statements, the more we make them true.

We then moved on to discuss how being happy can come about by using a skill set that anyone can learn. We can choose to focus on the positive. We can choose to develop from the negatives and if things don't work out, we can take another shot. We can actually count our blessings. Being happy is a practice, like learning to play an instrument. Buoyed by this conversation, I told myself (out loud) that I could finish that task I've been putting off all month. I set my intention and I actually finished the task. Heck, I even enjoyed it!

And then I remembered that karma has a sense of humour.

When I left the office it was pitch black, windy and raining. I found my bike with a front tyre as flat as a very flat thing. Darn... So here was my chance to find the positives. Ok. I wasn't in a hurry so the delay wasn't tragic. It meant I could walk a bit more which burns a few more calories than cycling. It was raining rather lightly and wasn't cold. I made change by buying a useful item and could save my emergency bus ticket for an actual emergency...get the picture?

I haven't always been an optimist. I spent many years working in politics and was pretty cynical. This practice of being happy, which is based for me in Buddhism, meditation and mindfulness, has been revolutionary. I can highly recommend it!