ANGER & Mind Training

Hello Victoria, this reminds me of that famous Dion Fortune quote: "Magic is changing consciousness at will". The more I go on, the more I'm convinced that's true. Yet I've also seen this backfire when misinterpreted. We can't really get rid of strong emotions by willing it so, I've slipped on that banana peel quite a number of times. I believe what we can do is to transmute those emotions so that, even if they're ugly in themselves, they serve something beautiful.

I like having positive emotions in my life, (& getting rid of negative ones), Sunday.

I quite like my new life & being more positive - it puts a rosy sheen on some of those bad pain days which I still experience from time to time. It doesn't erase the pain. Being more mellow & content allows me to walk beside the pain (instead of feeling overwhelmed & resentful of it's presence).

We can't change the bad things that happen in our lives, but we can change the way we interpret their effect.

50+ years is a long time to be unhappy.

Victoria,

I agree with you completely! I have to work at the positive attitude every day. Take pleasure in small things, deflect the large ones (like Kung-fu). You have been very kind and support to myself and others and are hugely appreciated.

I keep calling you Vickkie in my posts for some reason, blame it on the fog.

XX Wendy

Nice Vicki. Anger is a choice and no one can make us feel anything. I love when people can let things roll off their back and they laugh at what others say. I want to be like that!

You're welcome, Wendy.

Call me Vicki or Victoria (whichever you like).

Sometimes, in the last 2 months, I have to blink twice, & take a really deep look at my life to see where I was in the past & where I am today. I was angry 97% of the time in the past - not a good state to be when you've got chronic pain.

i still have days of severe back pain (& the occasional night), but somehow it's different. Somehow it doesn't matter. I can't explain it. Letting go of that anger & resentment seems to take a weight off me, so that the pain floats around me, instead of weighing me down.

And Spitfire, I want to be like that all the time too. I envy people who are eternally happy all the time. I haven't got there 100%, but I'm working on it.

I daresay, I would find it a lot harder to be positive if I was bedridden or housebound. I am incredibly blessed to be able to get out & about - now that I'm not exhausted all the time (like when I was working full-time).

Strong emotions like anger add to the exhaustion factor. You don't actually realise how heavy anger is, until you've got rid of it.

Lovely blog, Vicki, so true.

It is about being true to yourself, and respecting your own judgement, and it is about being able to just drift with the skies - gazing out of my window at the world and getting perspective that way.

Guilt is another one worth working on.

Forgiveness and acceptance is to be retained.

Say hi to Peter the Possum for me.

jace x

Nice post Vicki!

I fully agree about training your mind to think more in line with how we choose to think. Very important stuff there!

I like the idea of being beside your pain, instead of within it. And I'm so glad that you are able to have more pleasure in your new life.

Thought do have weight - anger, frustration...all very natural thoughts......but they're heavy, heavy thoughts....happiness, being committed to happiness - is lightening - rejuvenating. It does help to watch and cultivate one thoughts as one would a garden.

I was told once, that it takes 3 muscles to smile & 50 muscles to frown. Don't know whether it's a myth or has some truth in it.