As humans,
through our lives we experience heart ache, sorrow, grief and guilt. As we
continue to focus on the bad experiences of our past, the more we will be felt
weighed down by the sorrow of those rough times. We will continue to stay in
dark place, with what seems like no help and no way to escape that
darkness.
However, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. John
Bytheway finds an easy solution to this overarching problem by saying this:
John Bytheway reminds us of our freedom to choose. We get to choose
weather we are going to have a flour or corn tortilla at Chipotle so it should
make sense that WE get to choose what memories to reminisce. This week, I
choose to remember the happy times and not replay my bad memories. I like
to remember my memories from summer which allow me to stay positive much like I
do during while I'm out in the summer sun.
“Your
imagination is yours. You can remember the past you choose, rehearse the future
you want, and identify with the real and fictional heroes and events of your
selection"
- John- Roger and Peter McWilliams
((What's your go to memory you think of when times get tough?))
these are a few of my favorites to think of:
 |
Left- Right: This summer when I hiked a mountain, When I met John Bytheway (the author of this book) and lastly, my best friend Cosette Ray :)
Bytheway, John. How to Be Totally Miserable: a Self-Hinder
Book. Shadow Mountain, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2007
i tend to think of happy thoughts whenever times get tough i zone out and just live in my little bubble for a while till things get better
ReplyDeleteYes! I think people don't do this enough, we need to all take a break in order to regain our mental health and become stress-free.
DeleteGreat point - I have been guilty in my life of reliving bad memories and wondering if I could have done something different to impact the outcome of an event. I really like this idea of inverting that trend by reliving good memories. I like to relive riding in the back of my mom's blue slug bug and her teaching us to blow bubbles or my kiddo scoring a goal and being proud of himself in soccer or when my second kiddo was born and his brother brought him a shark doll to welcome him to this world. Have you ever struggled with negative memories? What prompted you to want to explore this topic of happiness?
ReplyDeleteYes, I think all of us have at least one bad memory that whenever it comes into our minds it takes over and weighs you down. As for the topic, I met the author of the book, John Bytheway in early August at a women's conference and he gave an amazing talk about how through our trials we can have happiness and how to be patient as that pure joy comes into our lives. So, I picked this topic because of that talk and now, I just want to share it with others so that hopefully they can also learn to have a better life.
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