The Power of Thoughts

Hey all! I know I've missed about two weeks of "happy log blogs," but that's mainly because I keep forgetting to write any notes down at the ends of my days. Normally, I would be upset with myself, but I'm not.

Part of why I'm not upset is that I've embraced that life with children is chaotic almost all the time. Adding one more thing on my list of things to constantly remember to do isn't something that needs doing.

Another reason is that I fulfilled my original intent. That quickly. My original intent of starting the "happy logs" was to see if I could change the way I thought and felt by changing my focus. You guys, it doesn't take long. Or, at least, it didn't for me. After about 3 weeks, I started noticing that I was feeling more positive throughout my days.



After I realized this, I started coming across this idea in more places. It was an idea I had already heard from church plenty of times. I'd seen (and read about) it in Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love. If you've never seen it, here's a clip of that moment in the movie (please excuse the...I'm guessing German?...subtitles).

Then Rin checked out a book from the library called "Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses." In this tale, Pete the Cat is in a grumpy mood. He comes across another animal, who gives him some sunglasses to help him see things in a whole new way. Pete puts on his sunglasses and the world looks awesome!

Eventually, Pete falls and the sunglasses crack. He doesn't know what to do! But an owl tells him, "Pete, you don't need magic sunglasses to see things in a new way. Just remember to look for the good in every day."

Needless to say, I'm definitely a fan of Pete the Cat now.

Then I came across a gem on Facebook that was someone talking about their therapist, who shot them with a nerf gun every time they started talking about themselves in a negative way (there is a tad bit on language in the first bit, but it's still great):




I feel like there was one more example of this somewhere, but it's just amazing to me that changing what we focus on and how we think and speak can affect how we actually feel.

Do I still get frustrated and angry and stressed?

I'm a mom of a 3 year old with exactly zero self-preservation skills and who never stops talking, as well as an almost 9 month old who doesn't speak actual words yet and keeps screaming (both when happy and upset) so shrilly, it feels like it's piercing my skull.

BUT I don't end all of my days feeling hopelessly depressed. I've actually been going to bed in a good mood for probably a week now. And I will most certainly consider that a great success.