Chronically Joyful

I am a firm believer that our internal dialogue significantly shapes our external reality, often more than we realize. Consider, for instance, a morning commute spent in a mental argument with a supervisor; I believe the energy resulting from that internal conflict inevitably influences the actual interaction between us.

Within the last 2 weeks, I’ve caught myself multiple times having inner conversations with myself around my symptoms and how I’ve been feeling; if I’m being honest, I’ve been a bit doom and gloom with the recent pain I’ve been experiencing and good ol’ returning vision symptoms politely shared between Optic Neuritis and Diplopia (go big or go home, right? Can’t just experience one at a time). I would have internal arguments with myself on whether or not what I was experiencing was actually real and candidly, I got into the bad habit of gas lighting myself. What I found is that I actually started to experience worsening symptoms during these moments and wasn’t able to actively combat the negative spiraling thoughts the same way I normally do. 

What these moments have taught me is that there truly is power in our thoughts. The beauty of letting things go is not only game changing for relationship management and mental health in general, but in making real life magic happen in the everyday moments. In choosing to assume positive outcomes at every turn, I’ve found that things have a funny way of always working out, even when the outcomes are unexpected. 

Example – I convince myself that I am going to make plans with a specific friend on a specific day; when the date approaches, I find out that my specific friend has other plans and is ultimately unavailable. Despite the disappointment, I hold firm in my assumption that everything always works out for the better. A few days later, my friend comes to me and asks me to attend an event with her that I’ve always wanted to attend, so while I experienced temporary disappointment, things worked out better than I could have expected. 

When things don’t go our way, we have the tendency to hold onto internal stories that may or may not in fact be true. When we hold onto the negative, I can promise you that more unfortunate circumstances are likely to arrive; when we shift our inner conversations and assumptions to a more positive outlook, there is a higher likelihood of extraordinary (or even miraculous) outcomes beyond what we could have initially envisioned. 

So, lovely readers, this short post was just to gently remind you all that our perception of our reality is truly the experience we get in this life. Have more intentional, kinder inner dialogue and watch what kind of magic you can make – I continue to tell myself that my MS is slowly but surely healing itself, and in remaining firm, I swear it will come to fruition! 

Thanks for dropping in, and as always, for remaining Chronically Joyful with me.♡