Kodak had an advertising reminder they used in their marketing to sell more film a few years back.
Most of us are painfully aware of the ticking clock sound of life’s precious moments slipping by. With or without a “stop and smell the roses” adage plugged in to your thinking. Type A personality people are not born that way, but earn their own merit badge single handedly for the label, title.
It all boils down to your thoughts, what you think drives the bus.
Makes the wheels of your life go round and round. It is your thinking, thoughts that are the inside source of how you feel, behave and speak. Not outside events, other people and circumstances. In life, we prefer to think it is others that are the problem. Way way more convenient, less fuss no muss to hoist to waist level the sharpened to a point index finger. To tell all who will listen, “there’s your problem”. But what we have here is a classic case of a failure to communicate.
Our thoughts have a hand in our attitudes, character and affect our behavior.
Even our view on spirituality. Plus their nagging, driving force can cause health problems. If you fix your thoughts on what is good, pure, honest, the kick in your pants to not waste time can be a healthy life propellant. To stretch, grow and adjust to the backdrop that arrives right on schedule around the next corner of your ever changing life.
Our thoughts can add to a peaceful easy feeling, a sense of wellness. Which in turn keeps a calming, burped lid on our emotional container. Keeping emotions that come in all shapes and colors contained, instead of escalating to a gale force wind of destruction and exhaustion. Growing up, you did not need the weather channel to see the approaching emotional storm brewing, percolating in my Dad.
I can hear my Mom, see her taking his arm in an attempt to calm him down. Saying “John, now John settle down”… in a Florence Nightingale sort of voice of concern. But too late, like putting out a fire with gasoline. Once Dad interpreted what the person was up to in a jump to the wrong conclusion, reading too much in to it that was not there fashion…well watch out. Baton down the hatches time.
Going way way over the top reaction unhealthy sort of way. Even if the person had wronged him, there is first gear approach to the problem inside your head without full throttle rock spraying. Peppering those you love that get hit with friendly fire that isn’t so much fun.
Kids can grow up to imitate this thinking, getting ballistic, having a hissy, total nuclear detonation over something not life and death.
Taking it personal, feeling sorry for yourself is not keeping your eyes on the Lord. Not thinking good thoughts or seeking solutions for good to come out of a bad situation.
Disappointment does not mean take it to the four corners, end of the world for a painful knee jerk reaction. It is not about you, but others. We are a selfish bunch, even my Dad that I loved. Mom worked on this trait a throw back from seeing lots of drama, hollering and the ravages of alcohol growing up. But it can become a habit, a pattern that does not have to be passed on, continued..
He was not mad at us, but became consumed, enraged with frustration that made him come unglued. Because of what he perceived, thought, felt about the reality of the current state of affair. Fearful, scared, mad at whatever, whoever suddenly rubbed him the wrong way. Quickly taking the emotional scale to red alert, life and death, eat or be eaten stress level.
Suddenly there she blows, erupting up and over in a melt down. Then total calm with the emotional purge. All done, all out in the open and minutes later whistling, humming a Boots Randolph, Glenn Miller, Arty Shaw song. The ones I remember him playing after church Sundays while Mom whipped up Maine potatoes grown on our farm for the dinner she prepared effortlessly for he, her and the four boys.
Emotions are not good or bad, right or wrong and are based on feelings, with a little salt and pepper logic.
And stir in slowly some past experiences, after a quick scan of your core value systems on the side of the box labeled “ME” ingredients. But running your life based on the feelings you have up or down at the time can have a costly whiplash. Because it comes from solely you driving your life 10 and 2.
Fix your thoughts on what is what is true and good and honorably right. It’s good advice and like a metronome to keep you in time, your outlook can be rock solid based on the truth, goodness that God provides. You and I make a mess of relationships with those we love around us when we don’t run everything by God first.
If we don’t drop to our knees daily, take it to the top, well getting hopelessly lost in the puckerbrush happens.
We then start the beginning of life running away from always painful memories . Not always knowing where the heck they come from, or how they just seem to wander in and out. Show up, generate inside as life ticks by. We should be sitting down to can open up the heart, letting God reach in, examine us and one by one expose, sort and understand those puzzle pieces. To put it all in perspective. To tidy up our thinking, rearrange our collection of thoughts. To help us with the Humpty Dumpty process of piecing it back together to have the fullest, richest life possible. For ourselves and most importantly for all those we care about, love dearly around us.
Maine is a perfect setting to open up your heart and self examination.
Because you can get to places where man has not spoiled them. Uncrowded living outside helps your inside parts function the way they were designed. You can hear yourself think when out on a Maine lake at 5AM with a thermos of fresh hot black coffee to nurse while wetting your line. Fishing for supper. Or high a top a big Maine ski mountain or smaller hill to gaze out over the expanse of Vacationland.
When you get away from people, when you are alone in the wilds of Maine, life’s mysteries start to one by one become solved. Or at least understood better as you like a friend of mine Bob Aucoin says “knit on them”. Why not rip back a few lines of stitches where you made honest, sometimes horrible mistakes. And being the pearl one kinit two again. Weaving lots of love into your thoughts, thinking. To become ever ready to believe, see the best of every person God puts in your life for a reason.
Remembering a new valuable lesson that when you race against time, set your focus on material goodies and stay away from Maine too long, it is easy to slide back in to old empty, dead end habit ways. Chasing your tail in circles. Maine, get here quick as you can. For more peaceful, down to earth simple living. Lots of answers too.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com