I sent my children this short letter recently, as they are on their own and living in a world of good health and opportunity, but no life is without some trouble and strife.
The Letter:
I woke up thinking about you and had these thoughts in my heart and mind for you. Please take the time to read this and take it into your heart and mind. It is some of the most important advice I can give you for your mental health. Let these words of encouragement sink in and marinate your mind in them.
‘Bend in the wind”
It is important to "Bend in the wind", as the tree which doesn't bend in the wind is broken. Bend and let greater forces pass you by, as there will always be forces in this world greater then you. Do not let them discourage you nor should you dwell on your apparent helplessness before them. But simply acknowledge their existence as the wolf acknowledges the bear and the shark acknowledges the whale, and move on.
"Let the rain roll off your back"
As life presents insults or adversity, let it roll off you and remain unspoiled. You are on a path to greatness, do not let petty matters distract you, do not let anger get you down. Much of what we experience in life in our daily commute is indeed petty.
It doesn't determine our fate, but it can inconvenience us, distract us or temporarily dampen our mood. Resist dwelling on these negativities, acknowledge their occurrence and store it in your memory, so can avoid it next time, but then banish it from your current thoughts, so your mind is clear and focused and your good mood restored.
“You can only control you”
Please remember that while you have no control over what people do, but you can control your reaction to their actions, thus you have great power to minimize the impact all such occurrences have on you. You are bound for greatness. Choose to ignore petty nuisances and remain happy and cheerful as you continue on your upward path. Those who are miserable or unhappy often seek out those who are happy and seek to make them miserable also. Repel these boarders on your ship of happiness. Continue on your journey.
“Turn off or disengage your hot buttons”
We all can develop “hot buttons” a response to words or deeds which makes us angry, sad or ruins our day. Remember that people “press your buttons” in an attempt to control you, by controlling your emotions. Some people try to figure out what names they can call you or what behavior they can perform to anger you or scare you or control your mood. They poke and prod you verbally and sometimes physically to see how you react. Then they repeat those actions anytime they want to control your mood or distract you from a task or make you lose your train of thought.
But remember those are your buttons! And you can chose to mute them and overtime people will stop pressing them because they seek immediate results, deprive them of that result and they will stop pressing. Also move on because, if you stay with them, they will probe you for other buttons. Don't allow this by moving on physically and mentally. Learn to shrug, tell yourself that what they say doesn't matter, then simply shrug your shoulders and move on. To put it another way, remember mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.
That's the end of the letter. I share it with you in hope that if one of you is going through something stressful in your life, these words, thoughts and ideas may aide you in your time of need.
Picture Source
Picture take by me in my garden.
Graphics
The graphic was made by me.