Thursday, July 19, 2007

Reprogramming Our Emotional Software Continued...

The biggest thing we can do to change our emotional software and to heal any past trauma is to find ways and reasons to laugh and smile. This is what helps give us resilience when something goes wrong. This is tangible proof to ourselves that it IS possible to (at least sometimes) be happy.

Case in point: Today my computer decided to have a snit fit. Looked, for a while there, as if it was DOA. I use my computer every day. It’s part of my career. I’m in the middle of teaching an online writing course. I NEEDED MY #$(@5^($^% COMPUTER!!!!!

Ahem, sorry about that. The point is that even though I wasn’t happy about what was happening, I didn’t (really) panic. I was able to take steps so that by this point in the afternoon, it’s working again. Mind you, it may not be working for long. I may have to replace either the hard drive or the computer SOON. (It is 4 ½ years old so.....)

I was able to relax and read while waiting for my computer to run through what tech support said it had to do before I could know if it would work again. And I knew that even if it didn’t, I had options and I’d already figured out what the next 3 or 5 or 8 steps were gonna be if this thing didn’t resurrect. I had faith that something WOULD work out right.

That’s huge because for so many years of my life, my default programming was that if something went wrong then EVERYTHING was going to go wrong and everything would be a DISASTER. Not just a minor glitch—a disaster! Now I see it as something merely annoying and I go on knowing that more of my experiences will be good than the other way around. And I know that no matter what I’ll find reasons to laugh and smile today.

Perhaps the biggest change in my emotional software was that I automatically started thinking about what good might come out of all of this—even if I did have a computer I had to replace.

In other words, reprogramming our emotional software isn’t just another chore but rather a means by which we can increase our happiness and have it become something that is automatic so that even without trying every day we will find ourselves laughing and smiling and feeling good.

Wishing that for all of you and sending blessings and safe and gentle ((((((hugs))))))),
April_optimist

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

emotional reprogramming is a lot like what we blogged about today...could it be a coincidence? anyway, we agree, if one thing went wrong we were seeing the next 24 hours as a disaster waiting to happen, but we have pretty much killed that thought process, thank God!!

peace and blessings

keepers

April_optimist said...

LOL! I think sometimes ideas are just....in the air.