Monday, November 3, 2014

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make A Berry Pie

Ever have one of those days when the stars are misaligned and everything that could do wrong does? I had one of those this week, 24 hours of mishap.

It all started when I came home from work and noticed that my grass had gotten terribly over-grown and one of my kitchen lights had burned out. After I’d assembled everything needed to mow, I realized there was no gas in the mower. Later that evening, Dax (my foster dog) decided I was going to slow for him and bolted and spent half the night running amuck the neighborhood (me chasing behind him in my pajamas). After carrying the big dog home and having only a couple hours of sleep, I decided to make quiche for my son and me for breakfast. After thawing out the pie crusts and warming the oven I discovered I was short the number of eggs needed. Then the final straw, I went to get my morning coffee and all that comes out is a small amount of very dark brew. Evidently the coffee maker wasn’t working. That’s when I had the poisonous thought “It’s going to be one of those days”.

We have to be careful about what we label things. One of my favorite sayings is “Our mind seeks to confirm what it already believes to be true”. So, if I decide that a day is going to be filled with negative events, I’ll notice every negative thing that happens. Maybe it’s a traffic jam, a spilt cup, a slow checkout line at the grocery store. But I could have the exact same day with the expectation that it was going to be a great day and I’d notice all the nice things that happen. I might notice the beautiful weather or how much I enjoy my lunch. It’s the same day….the only difference is the expectation and intention.

So, as I sat there with my tiny bit of overly-strong coffee looking at knee high tall grass, I declared, “Oh good, now all the bad stuff is out of the way so I can have a great day”. Then I went and made berry pie with the pie crust meant for quiche in my dim kitchen. My son and I had a delicious berry pie for breakfast. And you know what? It was a good day. Our thoughts are powerful; let’s use them to make us feel better, not worse.