I think most of us get frustrated and sometimes angry with things that happen every day. People are inconsiderate. Things don’t go the way we want. Stuff happens. These negative occurrences can get in the way of us recognizing and focusing on the positive things that are happening.
To manage this, something that I have asked myself for years is: “If this is the worst thing that happens today, will it still be a good day?” Almost always the answer is “yes.” As soon as I realize that it will still be a good day, it helps me put the situation into the proper perspective. It makes it much easier for me to put the negative incident behind me and focus on what I want to do.
Sometimes, however, what happens is extremely bad and no, it is not a good day. The worst day of my life was when my father passed away. Nothing would have made that a good day.
What I have recently realized is that when the answer is, “No, it is not a good day” a good follow-up question is, “Is it still a good life?” I have only used this once so far. I had fostered and then adopted three kittens. I had them for less than four months and had to have two of them euthanized on the same day. It was one of the worst days of my life. Realizing that even with losing them, I still had a good life, even a great life, helped put things into perspective and gave some comfort.
If you can use either of these questions to help you with the difficult situations you face, please use them.
