In the middle of cold winter, it has been unusually warm. Snow and ice have been melting, trickling away in rivulets, we have enjoyed warm no jacket necessary days. We are caught thinking that it is spring. There is a patch of green, yes green grass showing through the surrounding snow. It feels good.
Then today we are cocooned in ice fog; the weather is changing once more. Cold air pockets and breezy wind cause teeth to chatter and bodies to shiver. We are disheartened, blue because the cold has returned.
There are times in life when it feels like spring- our step is light, our burdens do not encumber us and we have hope for better days. But just as quickly, someone’s word or a chance happening as simple as a change in the weather, can change our outlook, take us off course and plunge us into the chilly waters of despair.
In reality, nothing has changed except our thinking about what is happening.
Our thinking about our experience is creating our feelings about our experience. We think that warmth is preferable to cold, we think that spring is somehow better than winter. We believe that what is outside can affect and change what is on the inside.
This is backwards- what is on the inside can change what we experience on the outside. Choosing our response on the inside can change our feelings and our experience just as quickly as the weather can change. We need to ask ourselves “what do I want to experience”. Make a decision to experience it.
Watch for the change in the weather. Smile. Life is just that simple.