The Pot-Bellied Pigs Aren't the Problem....

It’s so much easier to feel good when everything is going your way isn’t it?  When life is full of sunshine and bouncing bunnies and people are smiling at you and handing you thousand dollar bills everywhere you go, and the red carpet rolls out before you as you arrive at the grocery store, and money flows to you without having to offer anything in exchange for it, and your kids beam constantly and whisper “I love you” in your ear, and everyone around you just caters to your every beck and call and you eat as much chocolate as you want in a day without getting sick or feeling guilty, well, life feels good.  But when your dog throws up on your brand new faux-fur hand-bag, and your 16 year old kid has a temper tantrum while you’re buying him a new car, and you trip down the stairs and break your eye glasses and the heal of your Jimmy Choo shoes, and your boss doesn’t pay you because you haven’t shown up to work in a week, and aunt Bessie somehow forgot to leave you the inheritance she said she was going to give you, well, life sorta sucks and it’s hard to feel good about anything; especially aunt Bessie.  So if you could kill aunt Bessie, maybe you’d feel better, but she’s already dead… So now what?!?  Well, you’ve heard the saying, “when life throws you lemons, go ahead and throw them back”.  Or is it “when life throws you lemons, make some orange juice”?  Oh, maybe that’s not how it goes either, but you know what I mean :0.   So how do you make orange juice out of lemons?  Or even throw them back?  Who the heck are you throwing them back at, anyway?!?  Would somebody please tell me who I’m throwing those lemons back at?!?

Well sometimes, life sucks and then you get run over by a drove of stampeding pot bellied pigs.  That’s just another one of those sayings ;).  No worries, it’ll soon be over and you’ll remember nothing.  Well, if you’ve thrown all the lemons and survived the pigs, then you’re still probably wondering what you do when you feel things aren’t really going your way.  Or maybe now that you’ve had the pig experience, you’re thinking that things aren’t so bad after all.  Well, wherever you are on your journey, I know from my own experience that yes, it is easier to feel good about life in general or things particular, when things are going in a way that I deem as “my way”, and harder to feel good when things aren’t.  But it really all comes down to what I’m thinking about the situation or circumstances that determines how I feel.  Most of us think that it’s the circumstance that’s creating the feeling response we’re having rather than recognizing that it’s the thoughts you’re thinking about the circumstance that’s creating the feeling response that we’re having.  Yes, it’s all about what’s going on in that little noggin’ of yours that determines your interpretation of the events you’re experiencing.  So when life is all rainbows and bunnies, yes, it is easier to feel good because the circumstances can help keep some momentum of good thoughts flowing your way (the cute little bunny ears help there too); and when you find yourself in the midst of sour lemons, those circumstances also add momentum to your thoughts to keep them going a certain way.  But in either situation, the circumstance doesn’t need to be kidnapping your thoughts and taking them over.  You can decide the direction you’re going to take with your thoughts and determine how you’re going to experience the condition.  So, you’ve got ten dollars in your bank account, or you’ve got ten million in your bank account.  You think that the first vs. the latter is bad vs. good; but the only real difference between the two circumstances are the thoughts you’ve come to associate with either one of those two scenarios.  In and of itself, ten dollars or ten million dollars in the bank isn’t good or bad; it just is.  But, how you interpret that, what you make that mean and what you think about it makes you perceive and feel that it’s good or bad or better or worse.  Now, you’re about ready to give me all kinds of reasons why ten million dollars in the bank is sooooooo much better than ten dollars….yes, I’m onto you ;) and all of your reasons are valid, but it’s still just thoughts that you’ve kept thinking, which therefore have turned into beliefs, that are determining your judgment of the scenario I’ve mentioned.  The scenario in and of itself just is.  You’re attaching your beliefs which can cause you pain, torture, stress, worry and any number of not-so-good-feeling emotional responses or they can bring you joy, contentment, peace, excitement and a plethora of good-feeling emotional responses.  Whether you’re conscious of it or not, your thoughts create your reality moment to moment as they affect how you perceive, which affects how you feel.  The condition is not the reason you feel the way you do; your thoughts are.  So the next time you find yourself being bathed in millions of dollars, use the condition to your benefit and amplify the good feelings you have and realize that it’s the thoughts you’re associating with your experience that are making you feel good.  The next time you find yourself being stampeded by a drove of pot-bellied pigs, remind yourself that the pigs aren’t responsible for how you feel, it’s the thought about the pigs that’s determining your emotional response to the current scenario that you’re in.