Content spirit, Cheerful soul.

Every single night when I fall asleep I can hear these waves rolling and crashing. It is a magnificent sound to fall asleep and wake up to. On my walk earlier this morning the air was thick with the smell of the ocean, which I absolutely love… it transports you right there. Considering being transported from one space to another, I got thinking about how much has changed in my life in this last year and although not an “instant” move, but rather small gradual ones – as I stand here now and look back, I realise that the space between where I was and where I am now is relatively vast and definitely noteworthy.

I don’t know about any of you, but my feelings and perspectives on certain things have changed so dramatically throughout this time – especially when it comes to the matter of eradicating anything and anyone toxic from my life and sphere. Like the waves of the ocean continuously create a new canvas, we too have the opportunity every single morning to put forward the best version of ourselves possible. I read the below quote many years ago and although I have always had a great deal of appreciation for it – it somehow seems to reach deeper in my life now.

“There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who do not. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.” ― José N. Harris

Sure, I have always been what most would consider a positive person, but these days I literally reject and walk away from anything and anyone which I feel does not bring out the best in me, does not make me feel good on the inside, or lures me toward the negative in life. I simply want nothing to do with any of it anymore and that “anti” feeling is so strong within me now it is absolutely undeniable. No, I am not living with the fairies (although, I reckon that would be pretty darn cool), I am not delusional – I know that I don’t live in a bubble, but I am making a conscious decision about it nowadays and perhaps that is the difference, whereas before… I would simply allow myself to be subjected to things and people like I mentioned above – now, I refuse to.

“Why does our world feel so very crazy? Why do mental and emotional illnesses emerge more rapidly than we can educate psychiatrists, psychologists, addiction specialists, and mental health counselors to diagnose and treat them? We are marinating in the soup of collective madness, cruelty, selfishness, and lies, the soup of spiritual toxicity.” ― Albert J. LaChance

This approach and perspective, I have found has made it’s way into secondary facets of my life now too and it really does make “living in general” a lot easier to manage and cope with. So many of us walk around in a constant state of anxiety and frustration for a truck load of reasons which causes us to be “shorter” or more blunt with those around us than we would be if we were not in that particular mental or emotional state. Someone may do or say something to you at a supermarket and you allow it to anger you, irritate you and often this will spoil hours in our day because we have an inability to let it go and move on. I have begun to ask myself a question “could I just laugh this off?” – nine times out of ten the answer is yes. One of my sons pre-school teachers once said something to me – equally relevant… “Pick your battles, otherwise you will spend your entire life fighting.” That message pops into my mind often these days as I steer myself through my every day.

I want to look back on a life of feel good memories and whilst I am busy making those memories I want to feel good, so I choose to surround myself with all that which reflects such. It really is as simple as that.

“The world seems to want us to be sad and angry because bad things frequently happen. But I say we should feel the opposite. We should be happy and cheerful because good things happen. We should be delighted to see the sun rise and stars glow and rainbows color stormy skies. We should savor every simple breath and eat each meal with gratitude. We should slumber in sweet dreams and relish moments of laughter and love. We should take more notice of the joys and kindnesses that do exist, still dictating the actions of millions of good people all over the world. Life is filled with pleasant moments, not just grief. We should be happy because this is true.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich