When I got home I honestly couldn't figure out if I had gotten blood or spaghetti on my scrubs and that pretty much summed up my day. Something about today made me feel like a failure. Not just because I spilled something on my pants but because my whole day was a perfectly orchestrated disaster. It was full of over thinking, under thinking, not thinking... The whole day seemed to revolve around moments of forgetfulness, stumblings, and frustrations. It was the kind of day where you consider eating questionable left overs for dinner in hopes you can pull off being sick the next day.
As I drove home, I started thinking about something I had learned at church this week. The lesson was on how to find solutions to challenges and problems. We learned the difference between a circumstance and a thought. A circumstance is something that can be proven in a court of law. Concrete evidence that can be explained with hard facts [such as a blood test or an eye witness account.] A thought is really just an idea or an opinion. We talked about how although we can't always change our circumstances, we can always change our thoughts.
Could I scientifically prove that my day was bad? No, that was merely an opinion. Was there a test I could run to show I am terrible at my job? No, that was just an idea that had popped into my head! If these were not my circumstance, then I must be able to change them. If they were not factual, then they must be thoughts! If I can change my thoughts... perhaps I can change my circumstance!
When we challenge our thoughts, we can change them. Because our thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to results, we can greatly improve our outcomes just by transforming the way we think. Obviously this is all easier said than done so... for now... let's just start by acknowledging that 1) most of our negative thoughts can't actually be proven. 2) all of our thinking patterns can actually be challenged and 3) we all hold the power to live our preferred endings!
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