We Live Our Thinking

Imagine you've had what you might call "the perfect day."

• Work went well: Your co-workers were playing well together, and the boss hinted a promotion - and raise! - was in the offing.
• Happy hour - usually that buffer between work and home so you can be less raving lunatic and more loving partner and parent - was truly happy.
• Dinner was courtesy of the neighbor down the street you helped out a while back: Just warm it up and eat!

Then, as you're loading the dishwasher, contemplating the guilty pleasure that is "The Bachelorette," you hear the voice of another part of you.It hisses, "If you think tomorrow's going to be as good, think again. You know you can't keep this level of happiness up. Besides, do you really think you deserve it?"Your enjoyment of your "perfect day" evaporates, and you're left with slumped shoulders and a knot in the pit of your stomach.How many times has that happened? You're sailing along, feeling really good about yourself and what's going on in your life, when suddenly you're shot down by your own negative thinking.

It could just as easily be the opposite: You're having the worst. day. ever., where everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong - and then some - when a sweet whisper of hope from another part of you makes it all okay.You're raised up by your own thoughts, even in the midst of that unexpected and ill-timed zombie invasion.And what's really amazing is the realization that by changing or retraining your thinking, you can rise above those terrible no-good circumstances.It takes practice, and it's worth the effort, because it creates a delicious domino effect throughout all facets of life. It's like a superpower that everyone has, but only a few exercise.Over to YouHave you had a shot-down-your-perfect-day experience? Did you recover, or did it ruin the rest of the day?