A Daily Meditation: Practice Focusing on the Good
Our focus tends to go to the most pressing issue in life, and more often than not, that issue is a source of stress. Stress or anxiety can consume us in ways that are completely out of proportion to a problem: we can’t stop trying to solve something or obsessing about it. What that does, is make that stress spread. To our spouses, our friends, and mostly us: our being and our soul becomes tainted by the effects of this one negative thing. A daily practice to help weaken the power of the things that pain us is to instead consciously decide to focus on something positive and dedicate more of your energy toward it. A simple way to remember this is to imagine that you are the sun: whatever you shine on will be brought to life. Whatever you contribute energy to will expand and grow more powerful in your life, whatever you look toward you’ll automatically move in that direction, and whatever you think about will grow and blossom with your attention.
The same can be said for feeding negativity or worry. When you dedicate energy to thinking about bad things, be it an angry driver that cut you off and said something terrible to you, or not getting the promotion you wanted, or worry over an uncertain future, when you live inside a problem and pain it becomes more real and also more blinding. It will also be manifested in reality through your actions and mindset. Decide to focus the most energy on things that are worth it: things that will make you and those around you happy. If something is making you upset, stop and decide, is this attention-worthy? Do I want this thing to earn the level of importance and status that comes with letting it affect my life and those around me? Do I want this thing to occupy and own my day, my night, my week, my happiness? If not, start the process of refocusing. You do not want this thing to usurp your person or be more of who you are and what your life is made of. Direct your energies toward where you want to go, who you really are, and what you love. Think of things that are good in your life, work on projects of any size that feed your passions, and do things that make you happy for the sake of being happy.
The way you experience your life is something you can decide for yourself. You just have to make a decision to feel differently when negativity takes over and then put effort toward directing your focus to the positive elements. Perspective is 99% of everything. Even when it doesn’t feel like it, you do have a choice over whether or not you are going to be upset about something or you’re going to keep moving and work toward letting it go. It takes practice and a couple gentle reminders to yourself once in awhile, but it gets easier with time and the benefits are infinite.
Happy Sunday, loves. xox Sarah
(Image via ShutterStock.)
