QUOTATION OF THE WEEK
"I got the blues thinking of the future, so I left off and made
some marmalade. It is amazing how it cheers one up to shred
oranges or scrub the floor."
--D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930) Novelist, poet and essayist
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
We have heard of the term, "wallowing in our own self-pity." When we "wallow" we come to a grinding halt. We stop living. The whirlpools of our thoughts carry us down as we surrender to them. It is our choice to do so, no one else's. It can therefore be our choice not to do so. Self-pity can only live in our inaction. Being filled with self-pity when we are action oriented is impossible. Try it! The next time you feel hopeless, depressed, full of stagnant self-pity--get physical. Get the body moving . . . Scrub the floor! Dance! Clean house! Ride a bike! Jog (my favorite)! Self-pity and action cannot exist together.
Self-pity is a parasite that takes advantage of the times when we are down. "Why me?" "If only it, or he, or she, or they had been different." "I am worthless!" "I will never be this or that." "Oh, woe is me. . . ." We say these things to ourselves usually while sitting or lying down. We are figuratively, or sometimes literally, curled up in a tiny ball. Try saying these same things to yourself while you are in motion. Try saying them to yourself while you are helping another person. Go for a brisk walk a feel the body moving and feel alive! Self-pity cannot exist in the mind of a body that is moving and feeling alive. If you are just too tired to move, if physically you cannot move, then move what you can--physically or mentally. Write, sing a song, draw a picture, play a game, listen to a child, talk with a friend. Make that first tiny step toward action and away from wallowing.
So let's go make some marmalade.
Blessings and Love,
Allen Schmeltz
Copyright © 1999 Allen F. Schmeltz. All rights reserved.
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