Loving Monday: Reinterpreting Random Circumstances
As a Southern Californian I’ve never been particularly fond of rainstorms. Yes, like the one pouring unrelentingly outside my window right now.
Dark, cold, wet and annoying. It’s not without effort that I let it bode ill for my day. Traffic will be horrible, my briefcase will prove less than waterproof, everything will be a hassle, and, to top it off, my vanity will take a sucker punch given it’s a guaranteed nasty hair day.
Of course, circumstances, however irksome, don’t really bode anything at all. It is I who impute meaning to them.
What if I chose to give the rain a positive meaning? Rain as life-giving sustenance for all that struggles to survive in this desert. Rain as scrubber of the skies washing away much that pollutes.
There are many circumstance in our lives that affect our attitude, our mood, and our abilities to keep a healthy perspective. Can you tell the difference between those with no inherent value, either positive or negative, and those that do? Can you identify when you are the one imputing negative meaning?
Try an experiment with me. The next time you encounter a random circumstance that you find yourself about to interpret negatively, try finding a positive interpretation and use that instead. It could make the difference in how you experience this week at work!
On your side,
- Karl
