Saturday, March 27, 2010

Do I allow pain to control me?

As I was making my "To Do List" today, I found myself crossing off items—not because they were accomplished, rather, because I was having a "bad" pain day. Do I allow pain to control my life? Does allowing my pain to control me a good thing?

Limiting my activities so that the pain remains at a tolerable level isn't necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, I can't let pain control me to the point that I don't do anything. If I do nothing, I'm in pain. And anything I do increases my pain. The trick is to find the balance of doing things and keeping the pain in a tolerable level.

I also think sometimes we have to push beyond our normal activities to see if we can tolerate more. Often we become comfortable at one level and don't challenge or push ourselves to our limits. Think of a marathon runner. They know they can run 5, 10, 15 miles. But 26 miles and 385 yards—that's a distance that pushes many professional runners. Yet, many are able to accomplish that task.

Back to my question, "do I allow pain to control me?" I'd have to answer 'yes, I do'. However, I hope that I don't allow pain to be the deciding factor. Otherwise, I would miss many blessings. I have to make sure that pain is only ONE of the factors in if I do something. I don't want to miss adventures because I allowed pain to have the final say.

As I go about each day, I need to monitor my pain, but not focus on it. My focus needs to be on the positive aspects of the day and what God is doing in my life.
The more positive my day,
the more I can do, and
the less pain controls my life!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Contagious....what am I spreading?

"You have such a beautiful
positive spirit...
it is contagious!"
The above statement was emailed to me this week. It was humbling and very encouraging. I liked the statement, "it's contagious".


 IT'S CONTAGIOUS!

Normally, when we hear that, it is in relation to illness. And when we hear  the word, contagious, we take the necessary steps to prevent us from catching the disease. We even go out of our way to make sure we don't "catch" the contagious bug. 
Shouldn't we put just as much, or more, energy into "catching" a good contagious bug? Being positive does take work, but no more than being negative. "Misery loves company." But do you really like to be in the company of misery? No, you'd much rather be with positive, uplifting people. Misery may love company, but no one loves being the in company of misery. 
In my last post I discussed that being positive is a choice. And this is one choice that not only effects you, but those around you!

Let's start spreading
the POSITIVE bug!

Just think what could happen, if we EACH create a positive day! Think of the contagious joy we could spread throughout our homes, neighborhoods, towns, and states. As more people are "infected" with the positive bug.... WOW!.....we could end up with  a "positive epidemic"! All because each of us created a positive day!