Changing Focus

When life seems to leave you with an impression that you can not change what is about to take place, then it is time to change your attitude. I had heard this growing up and the first time I heard it I can still remember thinking, “what do they know, they are so old nothing seems to faze them”. Well, maybe that is the key, the older you get the more you realize that there is always a tomorrow and tomorrows have a way of being open for new discoveries and new adventures.

Changing your attitude involves changing your focus, if you can take the negatives, such as two of my children moving away, and refocus your attention on something else for a few days; the stress and heartache have a way of disappearing for a little while. As the stress disappears and you refocus your thoughts toward something productive it gives the heart and mind a chance to heal.

There is nothing in life that is a guarantee that emotional calamities will not happen, however; there is a guarantee that if you can refocus your attention away from the calamity for a while, your mind will find an avenue to reroute those emotions and allow you the comfort of knowing, it won’t last forever. The pains and hurts have to disappear and something new will be on the horizon that will once again bring joy. It is when we remain in the middle of the calamity that we begin to deteriorate mentally and emotionally which also affects our health.

The mind plays such an important role in how we feel physically and how we feel physically can upset the balance of our internal thought patterns. This is where some people begin to have suicidal thoughts or thoughts of running away because they can not refocus away from the cause of their heartache. There are those who seek “escape” through alcohol or drugs and yes they achieve a short term fix but then they are plummeting into a deeper depression that becomes a serious life threatening disorder.

There are ways to refocus away from the heartache that seems so overwhelming and to change your attitude away from total negativity. In many eastern religions they practice meditation by focusing on inanimate objects and allowing our mind to think only on virtuous things. In the Buddhist tradition they call this Lamrim: The Stages of the Buddhist Path. I am not a Buddhist therefore I will tell you of another type of meditation that is more powerful and helpful than meditating on an inanimate object.

In Christianity meditation is a bit different because the focus is on the scriptures of the Bible. The Bible is the most read book in the world from the date of its first publishing to today. It contains words of wisdom that have reached beyond time and space and it is still relevant to today and this modern world we live in. When we meditate as Christians we are called to meditate on the things of God, the calling we have in His order and the gifts that He has blessed us with. The gifts referred to in this instance are that of love, joy, peace, forgiveness and longsuffering. The more we meditate on these things the more they begin to change our attitude and refocus us toward a more productive mental frame of mind. As we meditate we also pray and we give thanks for what God is doing in our lives. As we give thanks even for the things that are troubling us, we begin to feel a peace that is hard to explain. Some have posited this as the power of “positive thinking” but that does not even come close to the reality of what is taking place.

As we begin to meditate on the things of God and pray, we begin to feel the presence of God and His love toward us. The mind begins to “reboot” or “refocus” on the things that are good in our lives and thus we move away from the contentious or calamities that have broken us down. The more we reflect on the beauty of the love of God, the more we begin to value the life we have because it is through Him that we are made new. Changing our attitude begins in the heart and moves up to the brain and we begin to feel happiness again even in the middle of the calamity that we perceived as being hopeless.

How you feel mentally affects how you feel physically and if you feel you are so tired of living and contending just to stay alive, meditate on the beauty around you, the smile on a baby’s face, and the deep colors of the flowers that bloom, the blues of the sky and the sound of laughter. If you do not wish to meditate on the scriptures then mediate on those things that have brought you joy over your lifetime and make them a part of your present day.

You are more than just a woman, you are a beautiful creation of God, you are special in the eyes of Jesus Christ and you are more unique than anything else God has created. You have been blessed to be a woman because in you life begins again, whether it is in bringing forth children or showing others that life is precious and each individual woman has something to offer to make life more profound and ultimately glorious.