Comparisons. Changes. Happiness. Gratitude. & Walking.
& some thoughts about our thoughts
I think we humans (in the western world, at any rate) tend to do a lot of comparing ourselves to others. Usually to those we envy to some degree?
So-and-so is
richer
prettier
thinner
smarter
more popular
more powerful
kinder
more "spiritual" (whatever the heck that means)
a better writer… 🙂
A "better person" maybe, even.
Social media can almost unhinge us by fostering these comparisons.
We wind up making ourselves crazy ... with our own thoughts!
Being merely human, I spend the odd bit of time doing this myself.
I tend to indulge in it very little as a rule, though.
Since, as I say, that way lies … feeling unhinged.
“The secret of happiness is to admire without desiring.” ~ F.H. Bradley
Making Changes?
Seems like we humans also have a tendency to be very resistant to change.
Though change, as the wise ones say, is really the only constant.
I know I personally have changed quite a bit over the years.
In a variety of ways.
Sometimes I've changed by choice.
Sometimes it's been almost forced on me!
Helpful quote:
“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” – Karen Kaiser Clark
Many of my own life circumstances have brought times of change.
Major ones?
Getting married
Getting divorced
Becoming a mother ... &, decades later, a grandmother
Spending 3 decades as an environmental activist/writer
A deep dive into the vaccine issue wound up changing my life a lot!? Yikes. (the top-viewed post on this site addresses this...)
The Covid era has brought in many changes too, heaven knows.
Ai-yi-yi.
So many really uncomfortable lessons learned.
(I've been known to joke that the sound of pedestals crashing has sometimes been deafening!)
What a ride it's been!? (Still is, of course.)
Best. Change. Ever?
It's possible the best change I ever made in my life was to take up a regular gratitude practice.
The thing is, we humans often tend to take things for granted. Or feel entitled to our good fortune. But so much is grace! If I have a good life, odds are good a lot of it is due to plain grace. I've lucked out! If I have a decent brain, say, it's not because I'm such a great person, it's because ... genetic inheritance! If I have certain abilities, these too are grace. Gifts!
“Love life. Take great pleasure in small offerings. Believe that the world owes you nothing. Understand that every gift given to you is just that.” – Maya Angelou
And when you make it a point to be actively grateful for things, somehow you become happier. Your list of things to be grateful for keeps expanding.
It's actually kind of miraculous!
I've written a lot about gratitude - here's an old but not-bad posting Gratitude: A How-To (or Making Gratitude a Habit.
There's a whole section on gratitude on my old site.
Walking…
Taking up a regular walking habit was another super-positive change. (There's lots of good stuff about walking here!)
As my sister once put it, "If I'm sane at all, it's because I walk."
And look at this! This meme just dropped into my lap. Perfect timing for this post!
Learning this was certainly life-altering!
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it." – Charles Swindoll
“You need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select your clothes every day. That's a power you can cultivate. If you want to control things in your life so bad, work on the mind. That's the only thing you should be trying to control.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
In Conclusion?
There's a lot more to me (& to you. & to all the issues we delve into - & even the ones we fail to dig into for that matter!) - than meets the eye.
And .... this crazy world is liable to go right on changing all around us, much as we might like to slow it down. To resist all the changes.
Maybe all we can each do is be our own best self in the midst of it all?
Knowing that too is subject to ... change... over time.
Here's to all of us being our own best selves!
“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.” – Karen Kaiser Clark
p.s. paradoxically, this can also sometimes be wise advice...
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Yikes.
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