PAINTing a New Picture

Our minds can paint pictures that leave us feeling bad

AND our minds can paint pictures that enliven us with possibilities.

Painting new pictures in our mind's eye,

Holding the vision,

Imagining what can be

creates a sense of wonderment.

My move has filled me a sense of adventure and excitement but the cats finding new homes and not being physically with me has left my heart heavy from time to time.  A friend of mine who listened to me sighing from a I'm a bad mother guilt trip after I dropped off TommyBoy to his new home helped me paint a new picture and this shifted everything.  She jumped right into his mind as if she were a cat:  How cool!  Look at this...Oh, I better go sniff that.  There's a good place to lay in the sun.  There have to be mice here somewhere...Wow!  Life is good.

She and I began laughing with delight as I remembered how dwelling in the possibilities for my life feeds me and she helped me apply this to Tommy's new life.  I felt good and this grounded me in a sense of trust in knowing he was okay even though I didn't feel okay in my initial sadness over our separation.  Freedom came from being present to not denying the feelings of anxiety and fear over his safety and painting a new picture through the power of imagination.

Friends, people on the outside of situations can help us paint new pictures in our mind's eye that lighten our hearts.  This is necessary to gain new perspective.  While it is important to acknowledge feelings, it is detrimental to our health to allow the river of emotions to carry us off over the falls crashing into a million pieces.  (Hell!  There are events in life that will indeed shatter us without our consent but we have choices in managing the waves of emotions that roll in and out...lol!!)

This morning, as I raised the windows to let in the cool air, filling me and the house with freshness.  As I inhaled, I welcomed this new day, this new life not just for me but for all people and all fury friends sharing this journey with us.  As I exhaled, I let go of any residue of heaviness in my heart.  Today is a blank canvass so I am PAINTing new pictures that fill me with hope, joy and a sense of wonderment. 

Join me in dwelling in the possibilities that lie within you and within this day!