Switching

Switching Our Outlook

I like the idea of "switching our outlook" because it sounds automatic, like switching the light on in a dark room. Watching "James and the Giant Peach" as a child, I remember a distraught James looking up in the clouds unable to see the any images. His mother suggested, "Try looking at it another way." Instantly, he saw an image his imagination had previously suppressed. About ten years ago, Wayne Dyer captivated me on a PBS special when he said, "When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." And just this week, I heard a woman say, "If there's a lesson in it, then there's a blessing in it too."  These things ring true for me.

We are not always able to see that every negative has a positive, that light can lead the way in the darkest of times. There is "no way" to see the stars when you are not looking to the skies. Sometimes what seems like (or very well may be) rotten, confusing, chaotic, homeless times, can switch before our eyes. The switch makes new ideas and pockets of inspiration possible.

When you're in a "bad place" and you get a sense of hope, joy, light, or inspiration, grab a pen, a paint brush, go for a walk in nature, paint a picture, make some music, dance, take a moment, breathe it in.

-Amadella Clarke, Author of The Keys Are Inside

 thank you bamboo