“When your life feels black and white make sure that you dream in color.” – Anonymous
Our life is suffused with an amalgamation of different colors which symbolize our emotions. We are happy and our lives are colorful when everything goes smooth and perfect. On the other hand we grim, we are upset, and our lives become colorless, if the things don’t go the way we want them to be. We tend to become negative and ask ourselves why is this happening to me “WHY ME ?”
Life brings so many challenges with it. The biggest challenge I see is how to stay positive during tough times. It’s not easy, instead it’s a skill if lea
ed or developed over the time will make our lives much better. I believe the first and foremost thing we need to work on is our own personal evolution which will help in bringing some changes in our outlook on the negative/ unlikely situations.
I realized it almost 15 years ago when I unexpectedly lost both of my parents in three days. This tragic incident convulsed me, and filled me with negative thoughts. Being a theist person the first negative thought came to my mind was to stop praying to God. I put all the blame on God, thinking he let this happen to me. I became negative and thought why am I alive, why I didn’t die with them; I was jealous to see other people with their parents, I stopped focusing on my job, and other chores. I truly wanted to come out of these negative thoughts, and at that time my 3 years old son gave me immense strength to cope up with all the negative thoughts. I asked myself what’s the fault of my 3 years old who needs my utmost care. And, then I explored the positive in the most horrible thing that could have happened in my life . The first positive thing I was able to figure out was that my mommy and papa died together setting an example of perfect immortal love. Also, I thought it was an end to their sufferings, and pain. My son (their grandchild) and I were with them during the last seven days of their life. All these positive things helped me to come out of the hardest time of my life. So, We should veer ourselves from gloomy thoughts by being optimistic and seeking pleasant thing about the different situations.
Being patient with ourselves is another way to get rid of unfavorable thoughts. We should observe our thoughts, and should spend some time to interrogate the negative thoughts with at least two positive studies or observations. Hence, we should take two strides ahead after one step backward.
We should not make a mountain of a molehill. Being an educator, I am observed four time in a year by the school administrator and the third party evaluator. These observations have always put me in the puddle of stress. I am unable to sleep a night before my observation. I used to think what if I am unable to give my 100%, what if all goes wrong, what if this happens and what if that happens ? During my observation times, I used to spend weeks in taking stress and overthinking. But now I have changed my thinking process. I simply concentrate on my lesson plan, stay calm & persistent. I also questioned myself Is it worth taking stress, or disturbing myself and my family . Honestly, after changing my attitude, the observation days seems like the regular school days . My observations went well. So, we must stay calm in all kind of situations.
It’s very important to exercise well and eat well when we are not in our best mood. Our not so good mood or adversities should not affect our family & health. During bad times we need to make sure that we start our day with a positive thought. Meditation, yoga , hiking could be some of the stress busters.
I am sure, we all could come up with various other ideas to make our lives brighter and colorful during somber days
Keep thinking in color……
Have a safe, happy, colorful, and blessed holi !!
