Often, we hear when life gives us lemons, make lemonade. The lemons that show up in your life may include:
Not reaching your personal or professional goals
Illness or your body not performing like it once did
Losing your job
An important relationship ending
Having a challenging time navigating through changes in your life
Here is the thing. Life is going to hand us lemons every now and again. If you want to make really good lemonade you have to change the way you think about these situations.
Recently, a colleague shared with me that her husband had lost his job. Surely, not what you want to hear when you say, “how was your day dear?” He experienced the normal feelings that coincide with loss; worry, doubt, fear. However, it didn’t take him long to recover and shift his mindset to “this is going to be an adventure!”
Some may say he was tapping into the power of positive thinking. As a Joy Strategist this is a strategy I share with clients regularly.
It is often said that affirmations, the act of affirming what it is that you want to create, is the welcome mat to manifesting your desires. This practice works for many, yet not for all. Some have a hard time wrapping their mind around affirming something that’s not already present in their lives.
This is where Non-Negative thinking, changing the destructive things you say to yourself when you xperience the setbacks that life deals us, may work better.
With two dogs in the house, it is important to make sure all of the doors to rooms are closed when we leave, that removes any temptation for Abbey and Eli to do something they shouldn’t. Last Sunday, we ent out to meet friends and I forgot to close the door to my office upstairs. Being gone for six hours combined with an upset stomach of one of the doggies resulted in a very special “gift” left for us- not on the hardwood floors that cover the majority of the house, but in my office – with white carpet.
First I was upset that one of my doggies didn’t feel well. Then I proceeded to be angry at myself for not shutting the door. It only took about 7-8 minutes to recover and realize the way I was thinking about this situation was ruining a wonderful day. I stopped and consciously shifted my thoughts, got Matt to clean up the mess J and we eased through the rest of the weekend.
The next time life hands you lemons, here is your new recipe for lemonade:
1. Look at the lemons long enough to know what you need to do with them.
2. Feel whatever feelings you need to feel.
3. Consciously reframe what you are saying to yourself about the situation. No need to beat yourself up when a few lemons show up.
4. Pour over ice and enjoy—essentially do your best to chill out and roll with the punches.
I know this is easier said when done, however with practice, the act of non-negative thinking will become easier.
It is from this perspective that you can enjoy the juicy sweetness of life.
Now that’s delicious.
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