As I write this I am sitting 38037 feet above Springfield Missouri on my way with my husband back to Detroit, from Texas. We spent the week visiting my daughter and her husband in Texas and my mother in law and her husband in Oklahoma. I am sitting near the window looking out into a crystal clear sky and I can see the ground beneath the plane slowly passing. The reason I know our altitude and location is that there is a screen on the back of the person’s seat in front of me that gives me the details of the flight second by second. I know where we are, our altitude, and how fast the plane is flying - 493 mile per hour . There are a variety of movies, TV, radio, and video content at my fingertips on the same screen. I have a book to read, my laptop computer, and a variety of snacks that I bought at the airport. The flight attendant even offered me wine, which I declined, but how much better can my life get? I am wearing a mask, but that did not stop me from partaking in the snacks. As I look out over the vast earth below me I think of how many people on the ground have problems today? How many are ill or suffering? How many have lost their jobs or are worrying about paying bills? How many are joyful?
I admit that there have been days in the past few weeks that I have had negative thoughts about little things in life. Negative thoughts about something that happened at work, negative thoughts about the presidential election, and negative thoughts about things I own or things that I desire. Why so negative, when I have so many blessings?
Our inherent negativity bias is a big reason why we have evolved to use our higher brain. We have learned to use that higher brain to recognize the negative thoughts, accept them, and then choose to change them to more positive productive thoughts, on purpose. There is so much magic in this ability to think through things and choose kindness and compassion over anger and hate.
My friend lost his wife last week to cancer. She had fought for over 5 years and lost her life to the devastating disease. He and his family posted on Facebook that they were choosing to share memories, laughter, and love in the wake of her passing in place of sorrow or anger. They chose to honor her memory rather than morn her passing There is power in his families’ choice. In place of bitterness about the disease that took her life, they choose instead to celebrate her with cherished memories and love. I am sure that is the way she would have wanted them to react to her beautiful life.
The choice to create better thoughts is available to every human in every circumstance. Before I started looking out the window at the earth below me, I was thinking that my back was hurting, I was bored of sitting, my feet were cold, and I did not like wearing a mask for the whole flight-"stupid pandemic!"-my brain thought. I was feeling restless, crabby, and supremely ungrateful. As I realized that my brain was acting like a baby, I changed my thinking to create feelings of gratitude. I chose to feel grateful for the team at my veterinary hospital that held down the fort for 7 days. I chose to feel blessed that I have a daughter and son in law to visit in Texas whose beauty and wit are beyond compare. Blessed to have my husband, son, and parents who are all healthy and thriving. Blessed to have this weekly blog to write, and my podcast - where I get to learn, coach, and offer support to the veterinary community.
This week I vow to set some goals, do some work, compliment some people, offer my financial support to someone in need, appreciate the beauty of the earth and all the things in it. If I am blessed to live to see another year, I want to arrive as a better person than I am today. I will continue changing my negative self talk, negative opinions, and scroll by those negative social media stories. I vow to change my negative thoughts to positive ones.
How do you choose to feel this week? Positive I hope.
Dr. Julie Cappel
Join me on the Podcast!
The Veterinary Life Coach Podcast.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-veterinary-life-coach-podcast-with-dr-julie-cappel/id1451549730
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