It’s likely that you’ve encountered someone who’s grumpy and has an all-around gloomy disposition. If you’ve ever spent any time around a teenager, you can say this with certainty. It’s as if they got up “on the wrong side of the bed.” And perhaps, according to Roman history, this frame of thought—turned idiom—could be true. Romans had strong superstitions and believed the side of the bed from which you arise each morning impacted whether you would be surrounded by positive—right side—or negative—left side—forces. Literally, there was a right and wrong side of the bed.
But for those of us who don’t base our day off of superstitions, or have decided to adopt positive mindset practices, the side of the bed no longer holds such force. (Thank goodness since I sleep on the left side of my bed.) We, delightedly, have the ability to choose how we want to react in a certain situation. How we want to feel.
Take, for example, if someone cuts you off in traffic or the irritable teen rolls his eyes at you when you ask him, well, anything. You get to choose whether you unleash the fury, or take a deep breath and move on.
Or, perhaps, if the weather calls for sunshine and you’re looking forward to your walk, but before you can even finish lacing up your tennies, the sky opens up with a rainstorm. You have the choice to crawl back in bed and watch a rerun of The Golden Girls, or grab a rain jacket or umbrella and walk in the rain. Don’t you just love the smell of fresh rain?
Bing Crosby sings it best in his song Accentuate the Positive:
You got to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive
E-lim-i-nate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mr. In-between
It all boils down to choice and what you choose to make of your personal journey in life. How you want it to look. How you choose to move down the path toward your goals and dreams. How you want to take control of your mindset and learn to operate in a mode of optimism, self-compassion and mindfulness. You are in the driver’s seat.
If you’ve often let the unpredictability of life make the rules, use this month to remember that you have the opportunity to choose. To travel your own path. And to choose which way you want to go.
This month, You Choose.
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