The Path of P

The Path of P

Inspiration is a wonderful thing. In the olden days, “inspire” meant to inhale. I love that image. It makes me feel like a good, deep inhale pulls life, liveliness all the way inside me, In turn, that liveliness, that inhale, feeds my creativity, and wonderful ideas burgeon with all the enthusiasm of spring.

On the other hand, if we are choosing the path of negativity, even the idea of feeling passionate about something feels exhausting.

When we are choosing the path of positivity, we can’t wait to share our favorite stuff with each other. The thought of it is energizing.

Hmm.

Why would I choose the path of negativity? Well, I woke up this morning feeling tired and somewhat disinclined to my activities for the day. That got me started on the Path of N. I started to think about all the things in my life that aren’t working. All the efforts that aren’t paying off. All the bad things. All of the ways I’m .... YUCK!

When we have had the habit of negativity, it’s relatively easy to slip into it. Happily, if we are practicing, it’s also relatively easy to slip out of again. We need to be aware of stepping down that path. We need to notice how we feel, how we are thinking, what we are saying. And when we notice it, we get to un-choose it.

In the dark ages, I thought I was more creative when I was in suffering mode. I thought that creativity was born from pain. I thought that I needed to be miserable to share my visions. I was wrong about a ton of other stuff, too.

Suffering is not the human condition. Choosing suffering is a human condition, and our job, should we decide to accept it, is to un-choose it. There are a million ways we have invented to do this. We call it lots of different things; Law of Attraction, Positive Psychology, Psychology of Well Being, to name a few.

We get there by making choices every day, by constructing a life brick by brick, built of things that make us happy; good food, exercise, and sleep, and otherwise taking care of our own self, good, balanced relationships, volunteering or care-giving, a spiritual life, activities that encourage “flow,” using our strengths, and being grateful.

When I choose these things, my feelings of depletion often disappear. My disinclination to my activities often disappears. Random little symptoms often vanish, and I frequently feel full of creativity, motivation, and a sense of fun.

I have had to change my worldview on more than one occasion. I expect that I will have to change it again and again as I move ahead on the Path of P. Each time I step off the Path of N, it gets a bit more overgrown, a bit more obscure. Each time I step onto the Path of P, it gets a little better paved, a little brighter, a little easier to find.

This is my choice. Every day, sometimes many times each day, to choose up instead of down, smile instead of frown, looking for the silver lining, not the clouds.

How do I find my way with joy?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 05132013