Today is a good day to have a good day!

Isn't it? And why not? It's a day and you are here.....let's make it a good one. I'm writing in the midst of a lot of chaos in my life.....and whose life doesn't have some? But, as I sit here pondering how I can host a pity party for 1, I thought to myself....why not just have a good day instead?

It's easy to get drawn into that spiral of doom and gloom that can cloud you when you have some negative things happen to you or around you.

But, in that split second, you have a choice...there is always a choice.....sink or swim….fight or flight……however you want to phrase it…but, rather than letting those huge waves of chaos hit you and pull you under as if to drown you…why not take a step back and let the waves roll back out without you in their grasp? What is my part in this? This is often a very relevant question to ask ourselves when encountering negative actions or words directed towards us. Am I the cause of this upheaval or am I simply a party to someone else’s chaos? Too often we try to ‘own’ others problems. The angry client, the mad spouse, the upset child, the rude person in line in front of you…..do we need to join their parade? It’s easy to join in…I must have disappointed them, or upset them or insulted them, we say to ourselves. A client is unhappy and so you join in with the negative spiral by engaging in negative self-talk in your head. In some circumstances, you might need to own your part in the story, but other times, that person would be unhappy about something even if you weren’t there. They would be lashing out at whoever is handy…that just happened to be you. In a nutshell, if you didn’t break, don’t try to fix it. When dealing with a negative situation, rather than embracing it, try to reject it. When you feel that someone is ‘doing’ something ‘to’ you, deflect it. Or if you feel they are taking something out on you, refuse it. Their negative energy is a reflection of what they think of themselves, not you. You can’t ‘make’ them be happy ..only they can decide to do that. But you can make yourself happy. You can take a step back and accept that you are powerless to change their outlook, but you are powerful enough to impact yours. You have the power to create your own good day, regardless of the speed bumps you might encounter. So, you could have a pity party for 1 or you could just wave away the black clouds and tell yourself “Today IS a good day”.