A New Lease on Life
by Judit Rajhathy, B.A., RNCP, D.Ac.
People often ask me how I can be so upbeat
all the time. Like anyone else I also
have my ups and downs - the difference is that I do not allow my down times to
last long because I have learned that life is just too short to be wasted on
negativity. Given that my physical
health is optimal via diet and supplements, I try my best to live in the
moment, knowing the past is gone, the future is not yet here and that all we
have is the very moment in which we find ourselves. Living in this consciousness isn’t easy, so I
often ‘fake it ‘til I make it’ without repressing my feelings but at the same
time not paying too much attention to them since most feelings are generated by
thoughts - thoughts that come and go all the time - like clouds passing in the
sky. I choose to focus on the sun above
the clouds. So the days that I wake up with challenges, I switch from choosing
to focus on them to focusing on the positive - ensuring that before the day is
over I have performed some kind of service to another - what better distraction
than helping another human being? The
energy expended in this direction is infectious and can totally change the
direction of the day. I also try to
surround myself with positive energy either through uplifting music, exercise, dance,
a good conversation – anything passionate!
We cannot control external influences –
what we do have full control over is our reactions to these influences. Knowing and fully accepting also that there
is nothing constant in life but change, we need to get ourselves to the point
where we can be adaptable and able to adjust to changes in life. Partners come and go, dear friends become
sick and die, our children can experience hardships, we can experience
financial issues – the list is endless.
We can choose to argue with reality and swim against the stream or we
can accept reality and swim with the current.
As Byron Katie, best selling author and developer of The Work often says, “You can argue with
reality but reality will win – always”.
Suffering is optional. Why choose to suffer when you can choose in
any given moment to be happy? The one
thing we do have control over is our mind, our attitude. As Victor Frankl points out in Man’s Search For Meaning “We who lived in
concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting
others, giving away their last piece of bread... they offer sufficient proof
that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human
freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in
any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
Hopefully you will also choose to take care
of yourself by proper diet and regular exercise. See you at the gym!
Judit Rajhathy, B.A, RNCP, D.Ac is author of the Canadian best-seller
book Free to Fly: a journey toward wellness and owner of Change of Pace Fitness
Center located in central Ajijic, 766-5800