Preserve Your Mind

News! World Events! Politics! Wars! Rumors! Gossip! YouTube! Instagram! AI!

I cannot keep up! Who said you’re supposed to?

It’s information overload. Knowledge of everything at our fingertips. So busy keeping up with the world we have no time to keep up with ourselves and our own families and communities.

I don’t think we’re intended to know and see everything. Why do we have to have an opinion on everything. Why do we need to hear everyone else’s opinion on everything and everyone? Our mind can only handle so much before it goes into stress mode. Don’t feel guilty because you aren’t ‘concerned’ about all the wars, death and sickness in other parts of the world. You are not being cold-hearted or uncaring. You are one person. You have your life and family and community. They are first and maybe only! We let go of much stress if we tend to our own immediate affairs and not jump on everyone else’s bandwagons hollering and waving concern.

There are many causes and needs hoping for support…your support. You cannot help everyone and meet all the needs clamoring for you. You need to say ‘no’ more than ‘yes’. Stay in your own lane and tend to your own – first and foremost.

Be at peace within yourself. Go outside and smell the fresh air. Look at all the spring flowers. Get a coffee with a friend. Sweep your own porch. Tidy up your place. Wash your car. Call a relative.

Let the rest of the world twirl on its own, while you stay in peace with your own.

No Hope

How many of us quit moving forward because of no hope?

‘It’s over. Nothing is working. I’ve missed another Monday. Tomorrow won’t be any different. It’s bigger than I am. Why try?’ and on and on and on and on and on…..

There is always hope. It’s often we can’t see it, so we say all of the above.

Begin by thinking backwards – to a time you hoped for something, and it happened. “Well, that was back then”… but back then it was ‘now’, so what’s the difference? You believed it could maybe happen. You had a hope. So you did something about it and it happened. Same thing can happen again.

Hope is only a decision. A small decision, a nod towards what you want. The light in the distance. The clearing in the forest. It is a decision things can become better.

After you decide then you will begin to do. You may not know what or where to start but just begin. Your hope will pull you forward leading you. The scenery of your life will look different. You will see new things and new ideas will come to mind. Your life will appear fresh and free again. Hope will grow and so will you.

Anytime you lose hope, decide to move forward anyway. The picture will change as you move from despair. It will be behind you – a thing of the past. You have better things to do.

Home!

Your place of tranquility, peace of mind, rest and safety.

‘Where are you talking about?’ It can be a place in your mind and heart you resort to in turbulent times…a place no one can enter where you can just ‘be’ and contemplate next steps.

It can also be your physical house or dwelling where you close the door and only you and yours can be together to rest and plan and inspire one another.

I suggest it also needs to be a place of beauty…not meaning flowers all over but needs to be tidy and welcoming. How does that happen in my mind? It can be kept tidy and welcoming also. Close the door to thoughts you don’t need to concern yourself with. Leave space in there for growth and development of the good things you want to accomplish. You can’t entertain every thought or video or movie coming along. Listen to good music to help keep mentally sound. Read good books about struggle to victory.

It can be a form of relaxation to putter around your dwelling, keeping things in order, rearranging and revitalizing the look. Figure out what you like, what works for you, what helps you become a better person. So many things sound too simple and insignificant, but the little things grow and either build you up or tear you down.

It’s your home. Take care of it. Make it welcoming to you. Make it your place of refuge, tranquility and hope.