The Rosy Glasses

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Had an interesting lesson on perspective this week from my friend David. He started the conversation by congratulating me on my husband's job situation. My first thought was that he'd missed the memo - didn't realize that my husband is looking for work after being laid off recently from his job at MetroHealth. So I fired off a reply saying, "He is laid off, David." His response surprised me.
"I know... I always tell people congratulations for being laid off. Because I 10000% believe that can only lead to some amazing opportunities. It sucks while it's happening, but everything in my life that has sucked has produced amazing growth that I wouldn't be who I am without..." I have to say that this is the sweetest, most optimistic thing I've been told in a while about our situation. And it really got me thinking.

Maybe he is right. Why not? Important big changes in our lives are really happening right now. The more we look at them in that light, the more things will clarify.

Some more ways to use this "rosy glasses" view to see things:

• My kids' summer day camp has been canceled. That left me without a summer job and three of my kids without a day camp plan. With Evan looking for a job, and me working on building my Reiki practice, maybe the opportunities here are for family time and more time to devote to the growth of my Reiki practice. These are opportunities we wouldn't have had if I was teaching and my kids were in camp 5 days a week for the summer.

• Evan is looking for a job. (Did I mention this? ha). Maybe this is the kick in the butt I need to devote some time to making the most of building my Reiki practice - right when it's needed. Sometimes we get most motivated when there's a need over a goal, dream or desire. Needs are urgent motivators for sure. Luckily, I have some wonderful people helping me with this, Helena Jackson and Fred Krazeise, both very dear friends who are giving me practical advice I need to improve my website and see the potential in Reiki Awakening and myself as a professional Reiki healer and teacher.

I have told my students in the past that life is many things. The way you choose to view life determines how you feel about it. I gave them all little kaleidoscopes one day to illustrate this point. Looking in the kaleidoscope makes the world look different from usual. Compare this to taking a new approach to seeing a problem. You can look at the world and feel terrible. The world can be horrible. People mistreat each other in really tragic ways. Money is tight, bills are high, the housing market stinks...blahblahblah. And yet, the world can be beautiful. People help each other, we have the power to heal ourselves and others, we can choose to visualize beauty and success and feel it. We can find new opportunities to be our best in the midst of everything. We can make a conscious choice to be good, loving people, for this moment, for the day, for tomorrow too.

I am meditating each day on the Reiki Precepts. They are:

Just for today:
I will not be angry.
I will not worry.
I will be grateful.
I will do my work honestly.
I will treat everyone with kindness.

These five little goals are the seeds of an amazing outlook on life. Each one has in it the potential to improve oneself and life for those around one in truly inspirational ways. It takes work. I have trouble sometimes with the whole day, so I make it "just for this moment" for those that I find more challenging. But I believe that the more I commit myself to these ideas, each moment, each day, the more I will see the good in my situation and the opportunities that are here.

Thank you David, for inspiring me to see this way.

Peace.