M.J. Blehart's Blog, page 111

Positivity: Originality

It has been argued that there are no original ideas.

I disagree. Why? Because each of us as individuals are completely original.

Certainly we are the products of recycled genetics, but we are, none-the-less, original. I am the only me that there is. You are the only you in existence. Even if you are a twin, a triplet or an octuplet, you are original. One-of-a-kind.

This is an amazingly positive idea. Because we are originals, we have something different to offer the world. We can build and create and share our singular viewpoints and ideas, and when we put them all together we can form original communities capable of astounding things.

At the same time, though we are individuals, we are also all one. This may be a paradox, but this is nevertheless why we can relate to each other. This is why we communicate with one another as we do, this is why we all want to love and be loved and to form families and friendships and other communities.

Because we are all original, because none of us think in exactly the same way, we each have an opportunity to choose for ourselves. Unlike the members of the animal kingdom who simply do what is necessary to survive, we can invent magnificent tools to thrive in ways even we have not fully realized. It is original ideas that have shaped us and our world, and there are still more to be invented.

No, this concept I am suggesting is not wholly original. I am certainly not the inventor of positivity. My approach, my methodology and how I explain making, finding and generating positivity is unique, and while it is likely not completely original, how I have chosen to share it is. Every post every week is from my collected thoughts and learning and lifetime of experience, presented in a manner that is, conceptually, original.

Even an idea that improves on an existing idea can be original. What is most important, however, is the attempt. So many people resist change and resist doing things differently, they do nothing about it and let the inundation of bad news and negativity envelop them. But we can choose to find positive things instead. The ways in which you choose to bring positivity into your life and how you feel will be original for you, and that is a very positive thing.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we can create our own, unique, original ideas, we can strive to find new and unique means to empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the fifty-fourth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 162

How do I know if I am on the right path?

I am actually pondering this question myself. I am feeling uncertain, and I am finding myself having a hard time with being in the here-and-now as I need to be.

Let me share with you my own, personal path as I am walking it now.

Today is February 4, 2015. I began the notion of Pathwalking three years ago in January 2012. When I started this concept I was working a dull job with annoying hours, and life was living me. I went with the flow, I went along with it…but I was not really in control of my life or my destiny.

As the year wore on an opportunity for new employment presented itself. I took it, and it turned out to be something I utterly did not want to do. So I moved on, and returned to an old job that has been my fallback for years. A job I liked rather a lot, but that simply never paid me sufficiently.

It occurred to me, however, that I was happy at this job. I found that I was happy I had made the choices I made, and realized that I was now not just developing the idea of Pathwalking, but truly walking my own path.

It was quite the revelation to be practicing what I was “preaching,” so-to-speak. I was not just developing, exploring and sharing the notion of taking control of my own life and choosing my own destiny, I was living it. This was incredibly empowering, and made this more than just an abstract, but a true practice.

Over the next year I started to take other steps. I became more focused on writing, and worked more diligently on completing one of my novels. I was coping with a less-than-stellar financial situation, yet still happy with the Path I was on. I decided that the first year of Pathwalking should be made available in book form, and I self-published it with some additional materials I’d previously composed for the blog.

As I got into my third year of Pathwalking I started to find more obstacles on my path and doubts. But at the same time I began to open up new avenues and ideas, and I chose to read and write more refularly. As I observed frequent negative messages from my friends on various social media every Monday without fail, I became determined to address this. Thus, just over a year ago, Positivity was born.

So now I was blogging twice a week. I have deadline-driven posts every Monday and Wednesday. I decided along the way that I was tired of the submission/rejection cycle in regards to my first completed Fantasy novel. So I took a bold step and went ahead and self-published. Sales of Seeker in the first couple of months were pretty decent, though not a runaway hit. Still, for my second foray into self-publishing, I cannot complain.

However, the job I was previously so enamored of was beginning to please me less. I was dealing with situations that were out of my control that were negatively effecting me, and experiencing a general feeling of malaise. However, there was an unexpected change in my status at this job, and I have a new beginning where I previously saw an ending.

So now we are in the here-and-now. I find that while I am somewhat less unhappy with my job, I am still having more bad days than good. Granted, there are other outside influences at work on me that are impacting my happiness, and certain stressors that cannot be avoided. I just need to cope with them better.

My current path beyond my employment involves a career opportunity that could not have come without the job I have. I am nervous about this because I am being forced out of certain comfort zones, but I still feel it has potential to change my life for the better. I am striving to embrace this, and let go of the things that I am not comfortable with. In addition, I am working on editing Finder, the second novel in The Source Chronicles, and intend to get it to a professional editor before Spring. I am currently planning to publish Finder in November.

So, back to my initial question. How do I know if I am on the right path? I am working on feeling my way through my current choices, and determining if the issues before me are mere obstacles and speed bumps, or if in fact I need to choose another path. If I find that these feelings are borne of stress induced by a cold and snowy winter, certain family matters, or most likely a combination of these things – I will have more clarity to see if it’s the path itself, or just the usual twists, turns and redirections one encounters on a given path.

What matters more than “am I on the right path?” is this: Am I choosing my path? If I am only going along with the flow once again, then I am not doing the things I can to take control of my destiny, and thus to live the life I want to live.

Pathwalking is not a static act. It is ever-changing, ever evolving. I am ever-changing, ever-evolving. But I am still Pathwalking, and I still believe that by sharing this idea I will not only make my corner of the world a better place…maybe I can help you make your corner of the world better, too.

Thank you for being a part of my path.

Are you choosing your own path?

 

This is the one-hundred sixty-second entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Something to Smile About

What brings a smile to your face?

What memories, what images, what sounds, what smells, what touches, what thoughts will make you smile? What brings a smile to your face?

These are the things we need to have at our disposal for when we are inundated by negativity. We need to have these tools available to us so that we can give ourselves an easy means to creating positivity instead.

Some days it feels like a major struggle to invoke good feelings. You wake up sore, tired, uncomfortable. You read all the ridiculous news and see bad things around the world. You are having communication issues with someone. The weather is surreal and depressing. All of these are negatives. When we allow these things to take root and get ahold of our day, they dominate, and continue the downward spiral.

We need to make a choice here. Do I allow the barrage of negativity to overwhelm me, or do I find a way out of this? I do not know anyone who desires to feel bad or depressed or angry on a regular basis. We all want to be happy, we all want to feel content and joyful more frequently. So we have a choice when we find influences both inside and out to be generating negativity. How do I turn this around?

This is where having that thing I previously called an attitude shifter comes in handy. More directly, you need to have something that will make you smile almost every time you invoke it.

What memory puts a smile on your face? Time with a good friend or a loved one? Is there an image you can access that makes you grin? An animal you are fond of or a child or something more abstract? Is there a piece of music or a comic routine or some other sound that makes you chuckle? Does a particular smell like cookies or bacon or the feeling of a special piece of clothing like a loved one’s shirt brighten your mood?

There is something that has this effect on everyone, and knowing what that something is can be key to turning around a bad day and drawing in positivity.

Positivity is not just about the idea of the “power of positive thinking”. Acquiring positivity is about thought merged with feeling and action. You have to think about positivity, but more than that you have to feel it and act upon it. If we take just a little more time and energy to do this, I truly believe we can all work to make this world a better place. Finding something that makes you smile invokes thought feeling and action and thus is a good place to start.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we have devices we can employ to make ourselves smile, we can use this to empower ourselves to feel better. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the fifty-third entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 161

What happens when you run out of choices?

The truth is, you never run out of choices. However, sometimes a situation reaches a point where the options available to you all appear to be undesirable.

We forget that we are currently the product of our past thoughts and actions. Who we are at this moment is directly related to who we have conjured ourselves to be.

What does that mean?

If, as I regularly posit, consciousness creates reality, then what we are thinking about is what we get. Because by-and-large we are not experts at living in the here-and-now, we wind up a product of the then and there. What we were thinking about at some point in the past has brought us to this place, here and now.

For some that is not a bad thing. The now is a good place. For some, though, the now is in need of work. This is why it is important to recognize this, and as such get to work on the things you want to change.

Won’t this create a loop? Won’t I always be the product of past thoughts and actions? Yes, and no. If you are more conscious of your thoughts and actions you will find that you are better at being who and where you want to be. When you are choosing your path, you are directing your thoughts and actions actively instead of passively. As such you will find that you are less likely to be displeased with where you find yourself regularly.

Which brings me to another aspect of this notion. When you are working on your thoughts and feelings, it is important to put them in the here-and-now, rather than in the future. If you are wanting things ‘soon’ or ‘shortly’ or ‘down the line’ or what-have-you, you will find yourself always reaching for them but never quite getting to them.

This is one of my biggest personal issues. I know what I want, I make the choices I make to garner it…and then I still see it always in the future. I see it ahead, I see it coming…and it always seems to remain just ahead of me. I never quite manage to get there.

I see good things on the horizon. I make mention of how I can see my desires just ahead of me. And, surprise surprise, they remain just out of reach, just ahead of where I want to be now. So close…and yet…

So the key here is to consider your thoughts and actions, and place the things you want in the NOW. You need to think of those things you are working to manifest as already being here, already with you, already achieved.

How does that work? That seems contradictory. My problem is that I agree…that does seem contradictory. But when I have put this notion to the test I have found that, truly, I do better being in the here-and-now with the things I want to manifest in my life when I put those things now instead of into the future.

This boils down to language, and more often than not our personal internal dialogues. We are always thinking, always feeling, always running facts, figures, ideas and abstracts through our minds. I have previously written about taking more control over thoughts so that there are fewer contradictory ones getting in your way. This is a direct aspect of taking that control.

When you are thinking ‘I will do ‘x’ when I have that money’ or ‘after I lose all this weight I will get a new wardrobe’ or ‘when I succeed’ you are using very specific language, and more directly approaching with a future tense. The key here is to put these thoughts into the present. Think instead ‘I am doing ‘x’ with the money I have received’ or ‘I’m excited about my new wardrobe’ or ‘with my success’. Put the notions here and now, instead of ahead of yourself.

That sounds ridiculous. These things have not happened yet. That may be true, but because consciousness creates reality the more you put things ahead, the more you will find them never quite within your reach. This is about your internal dialogue, which is what you are thinking and feeling. If you are thinking about lack and loss instead of abundance and gain…which do you think you are more likely to manifest?

What happens when you run out of choices? Again, you never run out of choices. To help keep your options open it is a good practice to work on knowing what you are thinking and feeling. From there you can work to maintain a present rather than future dialogue with yourself, and you will find that when you are more in the here-and-now than in the then-and-there of either the past or the future, your choices are more wide and variable, and as such more desirable.

Do you think to yourself about what you want in the past, the now, or the future?

 

This is the one-hundred sixty-first entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Choice

There are always choices.

Sometimes they don’t seem to be ours, and sometimes they are hard to even get a good look at, but there are always choices available to us.

No matter how bleak a situation may be, there will be choices available to change it. Some are surprisingly simple while others are immensely complicated. But they exist, none-the-less.

People often become mesmerized by what they are told by outside influences. They are told there are limitations, they see that there are few to no options before them, they are told it is all beyond their control.

But this is completely untrue. There are always choices, always options to be had. Of course, if you are already in a really sub-optimal situation you may not like your choices…but you still have them.

Humans are truly unique animals. We don’t just cycle through life surviving, we get to choose from a mind-boggling array of options. We can choose where we want to live, what we want to do, whom we want to be with. We can choose from day-to-day things like the foods we eat and the clothes we wear to grand notions like where to place ourselves and our career paths. There are practically infinite choices around us.

We are not so restricted as we are often lead to believe. We have choices, but we have become complacent and conditioned as such to give those choices to others. Choice is not an abstract idea as much as we think it is, choice is part of what has made the human race the dominant species of this planet.

It is in exercising choice that we can improve our lives. One choice that should seem obvious – things that make us feel good. Things that make us happy. Choose things that are positive and build even greater positivity.

Sometimes this is easy, but when it is not that is not the time to ignore it. Work to see your choices, and work to choose more frequently for yourself. Know that making choices is a surefire way to create more positivity for yourself, and thus make more positivity for us all.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we are never without choices, we have the ability to greatly empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the fifty-second entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 160

Disappointment happens.

It is something we cannot avoid. When there is something we want or desire or have our hopes about – and that thing does not happen – disappointment occurs.

This is a part of human nature. When we have our wants and desires denied us, we become displeased and we cannot help but feel disappointment.

Yes, I have stated here rather frequently that you feel what you allow yourself to feel. I have also stated that you should never disregard and ignore what you are feeling, but rather let it happen…then move past it.

Lingering on negative feelings will only draw more in. So while you will feel disappointment, how long you allow it to fester and how long you let it be without redirecting, channeling or otherwise acting to do something about it is wholly up to you.

How do you move past disappointment? Myself and a lot of my friends are currently asking this very question. We thought something we had all desired to see happen would, and when it did not we were disappointed en masse. When even a possible alternative presented to us turned out to not be we did not receive any consolation. So here we are, disappointed, and wondering what can we do?

As per usual, I have no simple answers. But these are some ideas I believe that we can all work with.

Redirect. I am feeling disappointment. But rather than just let those negative emotions settle into my life and dominate my actions, I can choose to take a new direction. I can find a means that will help me move past my disappointment, and let me feel positive again.

What will make me feel not disappointed? How can I turn this experience to my advantage? Maybe that which I desired was not as good as I might have hoped for, and now I can go on from my disappointment to build something even better.

I can redirect the disappointment I am feeling to something I can make use of. I can work to build something that will make me feel better. Redirect the feelings.

Channel. Take that negative energy and use it for something else. Use it to start something new. Maybe a new path on the same line, or even a whole new direction entirely. Rather than let the negativity of the disappointing situation gain ground and build up cynicism and bitterness, you could channel that energy into something else.

Channel that feeling into something you can make use of, or into something more positive. Take whatever measures you can to release the disappointment, channel it elsewhere and use that new positive energy to move forward upon a chosen path.

Take action. Don’t just wallow in your disappointment, do something. Maybe you can do something to address the disappointment, in especial when you are dealing with an outside influence. If someone or something let you down, you can take some kind of action to work with it.

There are lots of actions you can take. You can address the person or people who have caused you this disappointment in a constructive way, or you can take an unrelated action to create forward momentum and move past the disappointing situation. There are, undoubtedly, scores of other options to be had.

One note of vital importance. I stated above about addressing matters with constructive actions. This also applies to channeling the negativity and redirecting the feelings. It is important this is a positive approach. If you take on a destructive action, if you redirect your disappointment into rage and if you channel the negativity into different negativity, you will only find new ways to acquire even more disappointment, and worse.

That’s not to say you should not get angry, disappointment can certainly lead to anger, in especial where outside influences beyond your control are involved. Go ahead, be mad…but don’t let it direct you towards rage and destruction…instead release it, and build something even better.

Disappointment is a strong feeling. When you’ve been let down, and more when you are not alone in that emotion, it is easy to let it grow and generate more negativity. Be aware of this feeling, and let it run its course. But don’t hold onto it, don’t grasp at it…use it to do something different, use it to chart a whole new Path.

We are only human. Things are going to happen along the way, with any paths we are on, that will cause us to feel disappointed. It is unavoidable, but rather than let it rule our lives and direct our actions, we can choose what to do with this feeling.

Disappointment happens. The question is, when it happens, how do you deal with it?

 

This is the one-hundred sixtieth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: Community

Community is an amazing concept.

Community can mean so many things. It can be as small as your family and as large as the nation you call home. It can include an identifying factor which can help you explain to others how you view life and the world around you.

But community is really all about those whom you are closest to. Community in the sense I write of here is the group of people who have your back, who will lend you a hand when you need it, who will help when you are hurting or in some way in need of comfort, validation or assistance.

For example – I know a township that suffered a pretty devastating flood. But rather then fall apart, the people of that town came together from every aspect of the community, whether they were citizens, municipal employees or business owners. They worked together to bring everything back together and to restore the town to be even better than it was before the flood.

Another example – I belong to an organization where people who don’t even know you will offer a ride, open their home and lend you a hand with whatever you need, just because. We all practice the same hobby and all have the same historical sensibilities, but beyond that we span a vast swath of more mundane communities.

Community has often gotten lost in broader definitions like nationalities and religions and such, but in its smaller form it is people whom you both help and will be helped by in both need and plenty, and all for the greater good.

Our sense of community is sometimes misdirected, sometimes trapped in exclusionary ideas and practices. We do not need to keep others out for our communities to be strong. When we act together to improve our lives, we all get net benefit results. When we are part of an open and welcoming community, we are part of a great generator of positivity. But when we are part of a closed community, shunning others and spewing hatred and distrust, we are generating negativity.

Community to build positivity is beneficial to everyone it touches. You are probably already a part of a community that strengthens you. Take comfort and happiness in that, and let it build positivity.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we can be a part of a community that will help accept us and help us and let us provide assistance as well can generate vast amounts of positivity. When we take part in growing good communities, we work together to take our focus off of negative things, so we can focus instead on positive ones. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the fifty-first entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 159

You are not the product of your environment. Not unless you choose to be.

I get to choose who I am. I get to decide what kind of person I am, what kind of person I want to be.

No matter my upbringing, the environment in which I live, the social circles in which I interact, I alone am wholly responsible for who I am and who I want to be.

There are a lot of messages out there, often espousing that certain groups of people are bad. Whether that is defined by skin color, religion, gender, nationality or what-have-you, groups of people are being lumped together for the purposes of scapegoating and disenfranchisement.

The thing is, we are all individuals. We are not products of any certain doctrines unless we choose to be. We can choose what kind of a person we want to be, and we can choose whom we wish to be associated with along the way as well.

Let’s begin with a paradox. Nobody’s perfect, and everybody’s perfect. Perfection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. We are all terribly flawed, but at the same time we are all completely perfect.

How can that be? These are opposites, you can only be one or the other. Are you who you want to be? Are you happy with who you are, or at work on altering the things you want to change? Are you aware of yourself, what you want, what you are thinking? You are a singular creature, a singular intelligence, and in your own makeup you are perfect.

You are also imperfect at the same time. You see someone wealthier, healthier, with a better job or in possession of something you are not. You need to gain or lose a few pounds, you need to make changes in your lifestyle. Flaws to be corrected.

The question is – are these flaws your imperfections, or the perceptions of imperfections on the part of others?

Because we have this amazing ability to control change and to choose for ourselves whom we are and who we wish to be, we are inherently perfect. There are no other animals on this planet who can make such diverse choices (that we are aware of). Our lives are not just survival and continuation of the species, our lives involve growth, change, discovery and expansion.

People see a certain environment and instantly see all who are a part of it to be similar. Even though there is a wide range if disparity amongst those within a given environment they are often still all lumped together. How many people do this with, for example, Muslims, women and homosexuals as groups?

The thing is, just because you are a woman or a Muslim or a homosexual does not mean you are like any other within that particular environment. You are unique, you are perfectly imperfect in your own ways. But more importantly, you choose how you are associated with that group or not.

Deeper than this, how we have been raised by our parents and caregivers may have initial influence in both who we are and who we will be. What escapes a lot of people is that once you are aware of yourself, you can now choose who this makes you.

What does that mean? Do you choose to be a victim or a victor? Do you blame your life circumstances on your parents or others or do you live as you would best choose?

There is never one true way. I have emphasized that all throughout the Pathwalking process. My way is not your way, your way is not his way or her way and so on. What IS universal to it all is that we have choices. There IS a way, there is another way, and we can choose to be in control…or not.

It is important for us each to realize that we are not a product of our environment. While we may take some comfort in being lumped in with a certain group or groups, we must not allow that environment to overcome our personal identity. It is far too easy to get lost in the background, and as such to lose the path.

Yes I am referring to the idea of environment from two distinctly different applications. Nevertheless, the statement remains the same. You are not a product of your environment, unless you choose to be. Take this into consideration when you view others, and before you wind up passing judgments. It is amazing just how important this notion is, and what it can mean to you.

Do you view yourself as a victim, or do you have accountability for who you are and would choose to be?

 

This is the one-hundred fifty ninth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.

Positivity: On The Right Track

It is good to learn when you are on the right track.

When you have been working on a project, no matter if it is work related, personal or somewhere in between, there is nothing more positive than learning you are doing it right.

There are so many things we strive to do every day. Some are ludicrously simple, while others are difficult and time consuming. But when we are hard at work on a given thing, and we are shown that the process we are working with is right, this makes for amazing positivity.

Everyone likes positive affirmations. We all love to find that we are doing things that we are doing right, well, and/or correct. There is reassurance, there is the knowledge that the effort being expended is in no way in vain.

Who tells you if you are right or not? You may read something that shows you the process you are working with is correct, you may have a peer or family member point out the rightness of your effort. But most importantly, you yourself realize that you are on the right track, and that you are getting fulfillment from whatever thing it is that you are at work upon.

We all have things that we are doing. We all have projects we are at work upon for various reasons and in various ways. We all have things that occupy our time, sometimes long-term and sometimes short-term. These things can be done endlessly, these things can be done by need or desire, but doing the work on these things and learning they are being done right makes them all the better.

I recognize that this is an extremely vague concept. What is the ‘thing’? How do you quantify being on the ‘right track’? What determines this? The simplest answer I can give is this: you gain the acknowledgment of the notion that you are doing what you are doing in a right and positive way. This is not thought, this is emotion. You feel right, you feel good, and thus you feel positive.

For example, let’s say you have a work assignment consuming much of your time. When you learn that you are doing that assignment right, and that you are heading for the desired conclusion, and you are given certain assurance that this is so, you gain that sense of being on the right track.

It really is a matter of assurance and acknowledgment.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that we are on the right track with a given project provides assurance and the realization that our work is not for naught. When we know we are on the right track, the positive feeling this provides can give us focus on more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

 

This is the fiftieth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.

Pathwalking 158

With the choice of any new path, there will be risk.

Most of us spend at least some, often really much, of our time in the familiar. We find a comfort zone, and we do what we can to stay within it. It is a safe place to occupy, and it feels like a good fit.

The problem is, things change. This is probably the most unavoidable fact in the entire universe. Everything will change. It may be unbelievably slow change, but nevertheless change will happen. You cannot evade it, avoid it, resist it nor misdirect it forever.

One of the ideas behind Pathwalking is that it can serve as a mechanism to direct and control change. In choosing our own paths and our own directions, we take control of our lives, and walk paths of our own choosing. As such, we often make change.

But that does not mean we do not get drop out of gear into neutral from time to time. Everybody likes when they can just go with the flow, there is less effort, and less struggle, and once in a while it is truly pleasant to just let life live you. Sometimes it is even very much the nature of your current chosen path to just let it flow, and to ride the current along.

Sometimes, though, we find ourselves too long in that current. We have drifted too far out or too far downstream, and this is not in fact where we intended to be. So now we have to return to the struggle, and it just seems that much harder than it was before.

Keep in mind that change is a constant. It happens, sometimes visibly, sometimes far beyond our controls. Life moves forward, and forward motion is change.

When you find that you might have allowed yourself to become too complacent and too long out of control of your choices and your path, the first thing to do is to take stock. Where am I? How did I get here? Is this where I want to be? If no, what do I need to do to get to where I want?

But the most important thing here to do is NOT to begin self-recrimination. Damn. I totally lost control! There I go messing everything up and failing again! How did I land here, where I tried not to? How did I do this to myself yet again?

Avoid letting such thought patterns take root. First, because they do you no good in making change. Berating yourself for mistakes or for foolish choices or no choices actually holds you in the place you do not want to be. Second, because they are statements of negativity. There is nothing quite like negative energy to prevent any and all growth and change.

Positive energy is more powerful than negative energy. Positive energy creates strength and builds where negative energy saps strength and destroys. That said, it is much wiser to accept that you are not where you want to be and begin to focus on where you want to go. Putting the energy and focus on the how and why of what you don’t want will keep you in that place.

Leaving our comfort zone, in especial when we realize it no longer suits us, is challenging at best. Here you are in this familiar and pleasant place, and now it has to be left behind. It is hard not to think, What if I never feel like that again?

I find that when I am on a path I have chosen and I am walking it as I would desire I am in my true comfort zone. There is something particularly comforting in being not only on a given path, but on that path because I put myself there. Sure, the comfort of the familiar and routine can be nice, but after a while it becomes dull, hum-drum, and unsatisfactory.

Again, that is not to say that SOME down-time along any given path is not a good thing. It absolutely is. The key to this, like so very many things in life, is moderation. Choose Pathwalking time, but also allow some time to let your mind, your body and your spirit get some rest so that you may continue to choose your path as changes occur. Let yourself be prepared to choose what changes you need and want, so that you might be making choices that guide you along your path.

Yes, there is risk when you choose a new path. That is pretty much an unavoidable fact. But life is not meant to be just a day-by-day unchanging event. We are creators, and we have made amazing things of our world. Imagine what else we can create when we focus more energy on a path that might make us content and bring us satisfaction. Imagine what it would feel like to be choosing something that makes you feel good and gives you a great sense of accomplishment.

Yes, there are going to be risks, because that is part of any change. When you are choosing what changes are being made you are taking control, and that will always create a greater reward as you inevitably move forward.

Are you on your path, or in need of taking a risk and making change?

 

This is the one-hundred fifty eighth entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my personal desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Feel free to re-blog and share.  Thank you for joining me.

The first fifty-two weeks (Year One) of installments of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.