I remember moving into my first apartment like it was yesterday. I walked in, laid down on the floor and decided to paint the room orange. I was feeling happy, independent, and orange felt like a good fit.
After about six months of living on my own, and going through some tricky times with relationships, listening to too much Tori Amos, and developing a taste for Modigliani artwork, I changed my orange walls to a deep plum.
My mother came over one afternoon, and as I proudly showed her the room, complete with new wall color and artwork, she asked me in a concerned tone, “Is everything ok?”
I guess I was in a funk, and didn’t really “see it” until my mother asked me about my décor.
When we choose what’s in our physical environment, or our hairstyle, or attire – often the choices we make reflect what we’re thinking. But, having deep plum walls and sad artwork only magnified my sadness. And I literally lived up to my own expectation of being a woman scorned. It can be a circle. And, even more than that, I realized our thoughts are mirrored in our lives. Since we are “inside-out” beings, our thoughts in turn can be affected by and affect who and what we surround ourselves with.
My Lesson: Make One Simple Shift- A Shift in Thinking
The best part about the power of our thoughts, is that as soon as we recognize and change the way we think about things, we can turn everything around instantly. We can not control circumstances or other people, but we can control the way we think about them. Awareness is key to flipping our focus to gratitude, abundance, and faith over negativity, lack, and fear.
You can begin simply by keeping a daily gratitude journal or having a daily ritual to strengthen your faith – whether it be prayer, meditation, affirmations, or you can express your values by choosing external factors that align with them – music, decor, clothing, the words we use, the shows we watch…
Making this simple shift has such a beautiful “ripple” effect, not only on ourselves but on everyone we interact with, including close relationships, family, and the strangers we pass on the street.
