Create With Abandon

It's my birthday week! Actually, I tend to spend the whole month celebrating. Heck, I say "thank you" every morning when I wake up! From there I decide what it will take to make it a good day.

I haven't always been like that. I went through the first few decades of my life, especially in my 20's and 30's, with an attitude. I believe I thought there was an element of "coolness" to being negative. If someone said, "Good Morning", I might have said, "What's so good about it?", and with that one phrase I could set the tone of my day. Whatever we look for, we can find and if I wasn't even going to try to see the upside, I was simply inviting a low mood to take over.

The Seed I planted this week was:

"Instead of facing 'reality', try creating it."

Any one of us could make a case for being miserable. There are some crappy things going on in the world. On the other hand, why would anyone want even more of that?!? "Facing reality" can mean looking at problems and seeing ourselves as helpless victims. It can mean adopting a hopeless outlook. Or, it can mean that we have the chance to see how things are and take action either to improve the situation or even find another focus for our attention.

I love exploring the meaning of words and got really excited this week when I looked up the meaning and saw the breakdown of the word create.

to bring something into existence
to cause something to happen
to invest someone with a new title
from the Latin for "produced"/to produce something new
late Middle English, to make some form out of nothing

"Facing" something feels so confrontational. It feels negative. It makes me feel stuck and like I want to push back and it feels stressful. "Creating" something feels kinder, more positive, more hopeful, more expansive and filled with possibility. While not everything created is automatically "good", the option is right there. We can develop an environment, an attitude, an outlook, a new/different way of looking at anything and improve our quality of life. This begins the ripple effect because we can either spread misery or joy and do it equally well, depending on what we choose. If anyone ever accuses you of being a cockeyed optimist or a Pollyanna, you might want to remind them that both characters are traditionally pretty darn happy, whether it's their birthday or not! Reality can be whatever we make of a situation. May you create yours with gusto and good vibes -- create and celebrate! This is what I wish for you.

Do you have a birthday coming up? How are you feeling about it? Birthdays give us a chance to pause and reflect. If you'd like to chat about how you want to feel on your next birthday, send me a note and we'll set up a time, cummingsbarbara@gmail.com. You can start creating your own reality.

Sparkles and Love,