Lately, COVID has really started to get to me. In truth, the challenges I’ve experienced have left me both restless, and sleepless.

I used to meditate quite a bit. Yet, as of late, I have forgotten to–or more so– have elected not to. Today though, I decided that ‘enough is enough’ with the negative thoughts, and it was time to be positive. Once I made this decision, I needed to take an action– for it is not enough to choose to change our perspective, or to change our outlook– what really matters are the actions we decide to take.

Today, I took the action of practicing meditation, and I chose a meditation on the subject of ‘joy’. The first thing the soothing meditation teacher said was, “Joy is an action, it is a choice, and it can be available to us no matter what we are going through.”

It reminded me of a story: a gentleman was struggling financially, and he went to his rabbi for guidance. The rabbi said to his student, “Go see Zushe, he will answer your question on how to deal with not having enough, and feeling a financial lacking.”

The gentleman went to see Zushe, who lived in a home without running water, heat, or a finished floor. The man walked into Zushe’s hovel, and knew immediately that Zushe really had nothing– he was truly financially poor. The gentleman told Zushe that he was sent by the Rabbi to ask Zushe how he deals with his financial pain, with his sorrow, and with his suffering. To which Zushe responded, “I don’t know why the Rabbi sent you– I don’t lack anything. I don’t have any problems.”

It is all about perspective. In dark times, one can still choose to see the positive, to glean the joy out of any situation, if he or she chooses to. Similarly, during the best of times, if one chooses to, they can also remain overly focused on all that they are lacking, and all the bad that surrounds them.

And so I wonder, how do you keep a positive perspective, especially when you are feeling negative? Furthermore, how do you get into action when you know you must change your frame of mind?

This week, let’s find the joy in life, laughter, smiling, taking a walk, and appreciating nature. Remember, these are all free, and we can truly make the best of any situation if we simply decide to.

Accountability, Community, Unconditional Love

Asher

I want to remind all of you that you can hear more on my podcast, Showing Up. We have lots of amazing shows with interesting guests on a variety of personal development topics. It would be great if you could also rate 5 stars, review and subscribe to the show. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/showing-up-with-asher-gottesman/id1489856285y

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Posted in Thought of the Week