Of all my favourite features on the iPhone, one of my favourites is called ‘shortcut’.
Where I can programme in short cuts to things I usually have to type quite often but find too tedious and cumbersome to do every time, such as my address. So whenever I type the word ‘address’, on any app on my phone, it now miraculously turns into my 5 line postal address with the help of this feature.
And that got me thinking…what if I made a conscious effort to use similar text replacements in my life as well.
What if every time I thought of a word or a phrase that I often say, I programmed my mind to substitute it with something more positive…
And it’s been working wonderfully giving me a more optimistic view on life. Here’s my list…please feel free to share yours.
1. I’ve replaced
“I still have so much to do’”….
with…
“I’m so lucky I get to do this”
So everytime that overwhelming feeling of ever increasing responsibilities strike…
Whether they’re simple everyday things such as,
I still have to goto the gym then dash across town in traffic for a meeting,
I also still have to run errands for the house and reach on time to pick the kids from class,
When these thoughts hijack my brain all at once, spiralling me into self-pity, I make sure to immediately remind myself that I’m so lucky that I get to do all this.
There may soon come a time when I won’t be required to do any of the things on my to-do list anymore or will not be physically or mentally capable enough. And then, in true human form, nostalgia will set in over the days when I had to. So the next time I feel overwhelmed,
I’m going to think of the people who haven’t been given the chance to do any of these and say a quick thank you for my responsibilities….and then carry on to do my job.
2. I’ve replaced…
“Why me?”
with…
‘why not me?’
Some days are are simply euphoric… milestone days… when my children were born…the day I got married…my first car, moving into my own house, getting an opportunity to start work, being appreciated for my work….
Then there are good days when nothing special happens but things are still pretty great and everything fell into place. I faced no traffic, the wifi worked fine, everyone I love is happy, healthy and nothing went wrong today.
I have a rule. If on these days I don’t stop to ask ‘why me?’…
If I didn’t wonder how I got chosen to be this lucky over anyone else, then I have absolutely no business demanding an explanation from life on the bad ones.
Life is cyclical. Highs and lows are
consistent for everybody. We were never promised a smooth ride. We just falsely assume that we are entitled to it.
3. I’ve replaced
“ Oh no!!!”
with
“Thank God it’s not”…
This is a coping mechanism I’ve devised.
For every problem that I’m having, big or small, I ask myself could this situation be any worse? I then imagine the worst case scenario of an already bad situation and I find that I’m automatically grateful that things are not hypothetically worse than they already are. Sounds strange and contradictory,, I know, but it truly works
For eg. If I’m late for a flight I remind myself to be grateful there’s no traffic.
Or when I fractured my wrist I was grateful it was the left one and not my right so I could still get around my day.
This feeling of gratitude, even though it seems like there’s not much to be grateful for, I’ve realised, works like an immediate salve on the wound. There’s no script for how wrong things can go in life. Nobody guarantees you that your problems won’t exceed a certain level of hardship. Things can always be worse. So a hypothetically worst case scenario, for me, puts a bad situation in perspective. And once again a quick thank you for every silver lining, helps me console myself and accept my problem with more grace.
4. Finally :
I’ve replaced…
All those negative, emotionally draining everyday feelings of mild disappointment, boredom, anger, anxiety or being overwhelmed about anything that is not life altering
with the reminder that…
“Anyday that is not a bad day is a good day!”
All around us, we hear of people whose lives have been permanently altered, painfully and irreversibly, in a split second. One morning you wake up to life as you know it. And by the end of the day, it has been mercilessly changed forever. And we have absolutely no way of shielding ourselves or preparing for it. So any day that I have been spared that heartbreaking, gut wrenching, soul changing pain, is a day that I vow to be grateful for.
#parenting #motherhood #lifeslessons #lifegoals #humanity #lifeslessonsfrommyfather #thingsiwantmychildrentoknow #hope #coping #betterworld #loss #failure #success #balance
Sunset Effect - Nitya Satyani 