A spiral goes both ways

It was one of those days. 

You know what I mean, right? The kind where everything that can go wrong, does. 

I woke up late. 

Felt rushed. 

Received minimal cooperation from my children. 

Banged my shin. 

Had a salsa jar explode into my silverware drawer (you can’t make this up). 

Then felt a strong urge to either scream or cry. Keeping it ‘together’ was turning me into a pressure cooker. I just needed some way to release this storm of negativity within me. 

At this forced pause (there was no way to avoid the salsa mishap), I decided to stop tumbling. Stop moving so fast. Stop grumbling so much. Stop – period. I took a breath and looked around. 

I practiced gratefulness. The silverware all happened to be a wedding gift. I took the mindless activity of cleaning each piece to relive a moment from my wedding. I felt grateful for the memories, for the silverware, and for time. 

And that’s when things started changing. I felt a little bit better. Then better and better. 

When life feels like it’s on a downward spiral, picture yourself on a staircase. You are walking (or maybe running) down. At any point, you have the power to stop.

You can change direction by changing your thoughts. You can choose to walk up and find yourself in an upward spiral. 

Just like small action steps move the goal needle, small thought steps move our emotional energy. 

Pause. Grab onto one small good feeling. Then another. Then another. Climb your way back to yourself.

Slow down. I’m talking even one minute.

Time is a gift, not a given.

We take it for granted. Life gets messy. In the rush to get it cleaned up, the point - the meaning – can get lost.

That day I realized I’d never lost the source of my joy. I’d just been inconvenienced by all my blessings.