This winter has been extremely long and cold in Zürich. The time for joy of the first snowflakes has long past and the absence of sun in the city starts to leave a depressed imprint on our desperate souls.
This is the perfect ground for destructive negative emotions to flourish and take over our minds. As we recognize how cold, long, crappy and depressing the weather is, we condition our mind to put on the grey negative filter.
From this onwards, only a few steps until we feel very unhappy with our lives and start looking for proofs that this is a correct filter justifying a self-automated internal conversation.
In my case, this usually goes like (I exaggerate for the purpose of the exercise):
- “Why I am here in Switzerland?”
- “Yeah, why? This is such a horrible place; look, the weather is so grey and the people so cold”
- “My life is a misery. Why am I not living in a warm place where the sun is shining? The people are nice and they speak French, Spanish or Italian or even English?”
- “Yeah, come on, Swiss German is really an ugly language…”
STOP! Before I write a total pathetic story! Of course, this internal conversation has nothing to do with Switzerland, the Swiss, the weather, my life nor any language which per se are neither warm, cold, nice nor mean…
The secret to happiness is to spot these negative internal speeches which ruin our lives.
GO INSIDE AND REALIZE: THE VOICES WITHIN ARE NOT REAL!
We think they are stating facts because they are embedded in an experience which we completely recognize as real – in this example the cold long grey winter- which activates the the snowball effect.
My husband often tells me during this long winter season: “up in the mountains, above the clouds, the sun is shining!”
I used to get really annoyed with this, thinking: “how does this help my situation as I am here in the city under the fog?”
But actually it is a great lesson:
Know and remember that up there, above the clouds which blur our minds, the sun is always shining.
You have a choice to follow the negative internal talks and be a victim, or you have a choice not to give in.
Try from now on to spot the trigger to these negative stories and cut immediately the cancer of negative thought proliferation: The winter is grey, cold and long: that’s it! Stay with the observation and move on.
PeeledOnion is self-help and personal development blog for all brave souls who want to take ownership of their destiny and make happiness a reality everyday! Your comments and suggestions are welcome to improve the ideas and tips shared!
Reblogged this on Gabri Pardo A — Souvenirs!!.