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Posts tagged ‘Experience’

Adventure (Dr. Angi’s Law #6)

Dr. Angi’s Law #6

Life is an adventure and needs to be experienced with zest! ~ Dr. Angela Kowitz Orobko

Life is meant to be experienced with passion and enthusiasm. It will have its ups and downs, otherwise it would be boring. Let’s face it, if we were handed everything we needed and wanted every day without earning it or seeking it out on our own, we would feel worthless over time and become lethargic and depressed. We need to have challenges and obstacles to overcome and to feel that sense of achievement! The hurdles in life ignite excitement and gives us the fuel we need to live. Life is really an adventure!

Embrace the Colors in Your Life

We are a blending of all our life experiences…the more experiences the more colorful our life. Embrace each color in your life. ~ Dr. Angela Kowitz Orobko

From the day we are born we start experiencing life (and perhaps sooner as we are developing in our mother’s womb). Life experiences start from the moment we feel the cooler air that touches our body after being warm, secure and warm inside our mothers. One experience after another incorporate into our character as we learn how to react and behave to certain stimuli. Our personalities and characters start to evolve as we blend these experiences into our being.

The more experiences we have the more overlap we have with others who have had similar experiences. These coincidences and similarities allow us to relate to each other. We all experienced being born, but after that we start experiencing different foods, climates, smells, sounds, sights. These experiences mold us. Embracing and appreciating these experiences allow each of us to be more joyful. Furthermore, appreciating that others may have had similar and/or different experiences will allow us to develop more meaningful relationship with others, which can only serve to enrich our lives even more.

Each of us have our own set of colors that paint who we are today. As with colors, we all have had the elemental, primary experiences that everyone has experienced. As we grow and develop they amount of different types of experience create different shades and hues of personalities. Those who do not wish to experience new things will have less depth and richness in their life’s portrait. Their lives will seem “flat, dull and grey”. Whereas, if you embrace as many new experiences as possible your life portrait will be more dimensional, vivacious, sanguine and robust. You can choose what you wish to experience in your life. How colorful is your life? What new experiences are you willing to try?

Imagination and Well-Being

Did you know that the imagination can be used to bring people into well-being? It is true! The procedure is simple. All people need to do is to tap into recent positive memories and re-experience them in their imaginations.

Studies have shown that by reliving your positive memories in your imagination, your body will experience all the benefits from it; however, to reap the greatest benefit from the experience, you need to use every aspect of your memory. You not only need to visualize the positive experience but also every sensation from the past positive experience.

What did you feel, hear, smell, taste and touch during that experience? If possible, evoke these positive memories using images and music. It can enhance the experience for you. Meditate or simply close your eyes as you breathe deeply and imagine being in that place where you experienced happiness, love, joy, fun and bliss. This will in turn lower your heart rate and blood pressure; furthermore, you will begin to feel the joy you experienced before.

This is similar to counting your blessings and having an attitude of gratitude, both of which are also great for your overall well-being and spirituality. When you put this practice of using your imagination to relive positive memories into your daily routine, you will see how it will positively affect you over a period of time. Consider writing about this in a journal/blog or drawing about it in your art journal to capture this practice. Imagination and well-being can go hand-in-hand; and, it can become a part of your daily self-care routine. Enjoy.

ConTroll

CON-TROLL, each of us have dealt with it. Don’t let IT get the best of  you.

He who angers you, controls you! In fact, anyone that you allow to evoke an emotional response from you, controls you! Yeah, yeah, yeah, you intellectually know this, but emotionally you are in a stir. And, you want to know how to disengage the negative emotions. How can you address or prevent others from upsetting your balance and evoking the negative energy in you? Great question.

First, you can consider the source. Seriously look at the person who is basically talking at you because he or she are not respecting you enough to engage in a conversation. They are either looking for a reaction, or, they are passing the buck. They are venting on you, all the pent-up negative energy they had absorbed from their experiences throughout the day or longer. Who are you allowing to anger you or trigger an emotional reaction or response from you? Who is this person, really? Is that person a supervisor, a peer, a co-worker, a family member or a friend? When possible, write down absolutely everything that this person has done to upset you on a scrap piece of paper. And then release that energy by setting that scrap paper aside for at least an hour. 

Second, consider the relationship you have with this person. This is the transformational part of handling the negative emotions to create the shift of control back into your hands. How much time and/or feelings have you invested with the person who is upsetting your balance? What is your vested interest in the relationship? What is it worth to you to maintain this relationship? After you have had some to reflect on these questions, go back and revisit that paper you set aside earlier. See what you can do to transform each statement into something positive about this person. Consider how this person has affected  your life in a positive way. What qualities does this person have that you appreciate? If you look hard enough you can find at least one thing, even if he or she is simply a catalyst on your transformation to becoming more resilient. 

emotion icon

Think about this statement: It takes less effort to pull someone down than to pull someone up. So, how can you strengthen your resolve? How about bringing others up to your level instead of allowing them to pull you down to their energy level. In that very moment when you are engaged in a situation, where you could potentially be brought into the negative energy, can you step outside yourself and the situation such that you can gain a new perspective? Can you see the bigger picture? Is it possible to rephrase your antagonist’s words into something positive? Believe it or not, you do have a choice to either give into negative emotions or positive ones.

There are many questions you can always ask yourself such as: What is the lesson in all of this? What is the positive side in this situation? Where is the opportunity in this situation? How can I bless it and move back to a place of equilibrium? What can I laugh about this situation in my life? And, who gets to control my emotions, me or others? You picked the former, right? Of course you did, because you know that you get to choose how you want to feel. Don’t let others take away your joy. Instead, be the joy for others. Be in control (of the Con-Troll).

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