On my way to work yesterday, I started thinking back about something that made me angry and it got the ball rolling on thinking negatively. I realized where it was going so I reminded myself that I need to let go of it.

I arrived at work and while working with someone, because their computer was running slowly, they pretended they were snoring a few times, the negatively crept back in. It was hard to concentrate on being positive because I had to work with this person most of the morning and they had a very negative attitude. I ended up having to skip lunch and continued to be busy throughout the day and then… I didn’t get out of work on time and ended up working 2 hour later than expected. OH THE HORRORS OF IT ALL!

Before I left work, when I was at a point where I could sit down and evaluate my situation, I smiled. I have a great job, they treat me well, this is my livelihood Heck, I even made a little overtime! There is really no reason I should be negative and, wait, I may have brought this on myself. Going back to the previous evening, I stayed up unusually late, which caused me to get little sleep, which probably gave me the groggy headache I had in the morning. I need to jot this down in my “Suffering” list and learn from it.

But isn’t it strange that sometimes (or for me, most times) our default response is “Negative”. For me, learning and practicing Buddhism has taught me a great deal of self realization. How horrible it makes me feel when I am negative, so I strive on a daily basis to be positive. But in our pursuit of happiness, we will have good and bad days. The bad days become our challenges and we need to take on those challenges! By being mindful and practicing, we can change those Sufferings to Happiness.

But lets face it. There are times when we get really busy and we don’t have time to practice. And without practice, it is easy to default back to your life long learned skill of.. being negative! So be mindful of your practice. It is like meditation, when you first start meditating, it is easy for your mind to drift off. The more you practice meditating, the less your mind drifts off.

Be Positive! Practice it often! I have a friend who use to end all her emails with a tag “Be Happy For Today”, I never gave that much though but now I do, it is a simple reminder yet difficult for most to do. But work towards it and after a while it will become easy!

Be Happy for Today!

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