Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Simple Things In Life



Negativity comes naturally for me. I am not an intentionally negative person though. How does this make any sense you ask?

Well for one, I am not a bitter pessimist. I consider myself a logical pessimist. I am not the type that kills peoples hopes and dreams for the sake of doing it. I offer words of warning from life experiences and what I see as more likely to occur.

Like everyone else in the world, I have had my share of disappointments. I have taught myself to expect the worst. Yes, this can be extremely difficult and occasionally painful, but this is the way I have learned to cope. I expect the worst and I am never disappointed. In fact, more often than not I am pleasantly surprised by the results of whatever concern I had.

Its easier for me to be happy about a glass half full when I expect it to to be completely empty or even shattered.

Living a life like this is not for everyone. I don't recommend people try it if they are happy the way they are. It works for me though sometimes it takes its toll. When a series of unfortunate events come one after another and my negative suspicions are proven correct, the way I see the world gets very, very dark.

During these dark times I take little mental brakes. That is not a typo. I literally take mental BRAKES.

I stop.

I'm at work and I feel like I can't take any more so I just stop. Breathe. Then I continue. I'm driving to work and traffic is driving me insane. I keep driving but mentally, I stop my train of thought. I look around the world to see the beauty in all things surrounding us.

You mothers and photographers may know exactly what I am talking about. I find little things that I like to see and just envelope myself in them.

The oversize trailer hauling gigantic rubber tires that are wider than the lane the semi is driving on.
An interesting cloud configuration.
Huge tractors digging up Earth as if they were angry metal dinosaurs.
A lush green tree swaying in the middle of an urban jungle.
A flock of birds changing direction faster than humanly possible.
The little splashes of water that come off the back tire of a car in the freeway after a heavy rain.
The sound of the wind on a big, full tree.
The light of a huge planet shining down upon us as we trample people over a faÇade of a sale at Wal-Mart.
Sorry, sometimes a little bit of that negativity slips through. ;)

As we work through our week and struggle through our daily strife's remember that life is a gift that we must share. The world doesn't revolve around us. We revolve around IT.

Don't pass that red light because you're "in a rush."
Don't cut in front of a slow moving grandmother with a walker just because you can't wait.
Don't yell at the barista just because you were stupid enough to become addicted to caffeine.
Don't treat your kids roughly because they embarrass you at the mall.
Don't ignore them if they are throwing a tantrum annoying everyone else either.
Don't flash your lights at the car in front of you doing 85 mph just because you want to go 86.
Don't make someone do simple tasks for you simply because you are too lazy to learn how to do them on your own.
Take deep breaths, often.
Remind your loved ones of what they mean to you.


Don't wait to feel bad about not getting to say goodbye. Be around more often instead to say Hi.

7 comments:

Dawn Marie said...

I think your right. despite all the icky things that go on--ALWAYS we can find something good. Life will be dark for all of us at times..you simply cannot expect it to be always good. Its just the way it is...I guess the older one gets--we have to learn to embrace the good and peaceful times--because we know another storm will brew.

Unknown said...

Very true. I know what a mental brake is. When I'm frustrated with something, I let my mind just go blank and concentrate on one thing (breathing or staring at an object). It really helps.

I try to be an optimist but I also live in reality. Hope for the best but expect the worst.

Iris said...

This blog was very refreshing and a good reminder of how we should look at the world

Anonymous said...

Very nice blog indeed. It's a reminder to stop and reboot.

Glad you liked the Xmas card, a work colleauge sent it to me last year and it cracked me up!

Simply Andréa said...

I think I might me the opposite of that.
I'm usually the one that gets honked at because when the light turned yellow, I stopped. I'm the one that people have to wait on because I'm too slow. hehe.

I know what you mean thought. It's nice sometimes to just stop and smell those roses.

HektikLyfe said...

>Dawnie: Always expect the worst I say, that way you're never caught off guard.

>Marcy: Reality is harsh sometimes. You really have to psych yourself up for it.

>Iris: Bet you never expected a blog like this to come from me. :)

>Vivienne: Rebooting does wonders for your computer and your person.

>Andrea: Safety 1st! Well, I said nothing about roses! Football, raw steak, guns and dog fights.

Iris said...

No. I didn't expect it. It was nice :)