"If you dreamed a bad dream, sing a happy song. Don't start your day defeated."
Today I woke up feeling defeated. It was because I was dreaming that I had so many things to do that I couldn't possibly get it all done. I awakened exasperated. For a few minutes, I felt like I didn't have the strength or the energy to do what needed to be done. Then I remembered that it was just a dream, but the ugly feeling didn't go completely away. So before I thought about what my reality held, I began to sing, "I-have-pos-i-tive-en-er-gy! I-have-po-si-tive energy!" It took a couple of choruses before I could even remember anything positive about my world, but I persisted. I finally remembered something that had taken place about fifteen years ago. (Yeah, it was an old positive but old was as good as any in that moment!) Still it took a minute. By the time I was fully awake, I was feeling a little down but not totally exasperated. I held on to the memory from old and eventually went back to sleep since it was only four a.m. When I awakened again around six, I still felt heavy. By eight fifteen, I was feeling pretty flat with a bunch of negative memories and thoughts opportunistically waiting to pounce. All I needed to do was think on one of them, but I refused. Being prone to depression, I know what happens when I relive a negative memory. It will take me down instantly in a total TKO, and it will take me a few days to a few months to come out of it, so I avoid them at all costs. Not feeling it, I fought like hell to hold on to the positive. My son had to work this morning and I had to drop him off, so I decided to get up and get busy, rather than wallowing in what was trying to get me down. I got up and steamed his clothes for him (leave it to him, I'd wake up like this every morning--at least on the ones he has to work!). I got myself together then dropped him off. As I was exiting the freeway to get back home, Hezekiah Walker's Power Belongs To God" began to play on the iPod. Tears began streaming down my face as I remembered how things got done in my life. Not in my own strength, but in the power of the positive energy that's given to me every morning I get that new canvas to paint on (we talked about that in an earlier blog).The negativity began to lift as if someone were removing a body bandage from me. Then it all began to make sense.
How often, if ever, do you analyze your dreams? The dream state is an extension of your subconscious mind. It's where your thoughts from each day play out. If you have enough positive energy to get through them, you will wake up in a good place, possibly with the dream unnoticed. If not, you will wake up feeling whatever emotion played out in the dream. When we say, "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed", or "I woke up in a bad mood this morning", that really just means that your negative thoughts overtook the positive ones in your dream state. In reality, you woke up with some emotion coloring your canvas. If you don't take the time to recolor it, or ask for a new one, the dingy one you woke up with will taint the way you paint everything that happens in your day.
Pay attention to how you feel when you wake up each morning. Take control of your day by deciding whether or not you want that kind of day. If it's positive, go with it and enjoy! Spread a little cheer to everyone around you. Pay it forward. If not, decide how you want to feel and do what you need to do to get that feeling. If you can't carry a tune in a bucket, sing loudly in the shower. Laugh at yourself. (Of course, if the fact that you can't sing depresses you, do something else. Please.) If you have a favorite comedy on DVD, let it play while you prepare for your day. Reach for a great memory. Use pictures, music, or anything you have that will make you think of a time that made you laugh. It doesn't matter what you do to end up in that good place, but it's got to start with you deciding what your day is going to be like and refusing to feel defeated, scared, worried, anxious, heavy, stupid, inept, burdensome, poor, needy, etc., for the rest of YOUR day. The day belongs to you; do something memorable with it. Live a little, laugh a lot, and make something happen in your day that will help you smile as you lie die for sleep tonight.
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