You can read the article here. Kind of really great, huh?
Anyway, with this on my mind I've been trying to count my blessings and focus on them instead of stating happy things as kind of the antidote after saying negative ones, like "I feel terrible and am pretty sure I'm losing my left leg to gangrene, but life is good." Kind of kills the "life is good" part, and turns everything into a downer. Or sometimes it seems hard to "count your blessings" because it's easy to slip into making side notes, like "I have a sweet healthy baby" yeah, that will wake you up again in two hours, yelling loud enough to summon the fire department. He will then stay up for another two hours, making desperate screams every time you stop moving. See? Gratefulness-0.
Last night, though, I stumbled across a great way to count my blessings and change a cranky mood to a genuinely positive one. I was soooo tired and kind of crabby, but as Miles and I went to bed I turned and said, "I love you." He asked why, so I listed some reasons that had stuck out that day, including "you make me laugh." Now here's the gratitude tip, compliments of my husband:
"What made you laugh today?"
I found I could list off five or six things from that day that were still hilarious to me, and went to sleep with a smile on my face, still laughing about the funny text Miles had sent to his boss, and how he peeked back through the mail slot to say goodbye again on his way to work. And how Colban, who is fixated by Miles's razor charge cord, ferociously gnawed on his hand after finally touching the cord, as if hoping it had left something edible there. This listing of blessings came so much more naturally to me, and left me with a REAL feeling of gratitude for some wonderful moments that made me love my family that day.
Try it! Or if it wasn't a laugh-y day, I bet still thinking of what made me smile that day would do the trick!
I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight.
-Gordon B. Hinckley
Great perspective. Another thing that totally helps me is reading and rereading my favorite conference talks. I've kept the most recent one by Elder Scott up on my iPad for about three weeks now. Whenever I start to get desperate or freak out, it really brings me some joy to just skim through it again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Camille! That IS always a mood booster! I'll have to give Elder Scott's talk a look...I've forgotten what it was about, but he's been a favorite since high school!
Deletejust in case you didn't know I stalk your blog:) I am glad you are finding ways to laugh, motherhood is hard stuff but so rewarding right?!!? Hopefully your baby starts sleeping longer that changes my world when that happens.
ReplyDeleteStalk away! :) it was totally your post I was talking about, by the way! And the stalking is mutual, at least as far as Facebook posts go. When are you due?
DeleteOops, I just reread the article and realized that the control group wasn't on antidepressant meds, it was that the results were comparable to being on meds...I misread that. But the point is still the same!! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Here are five things that made me laugh today:
ReplyDelete- going to library story time and learning about the police department's program to help kids avoid dog bites: "be a tree". It wasn't the story time I expected, but it was pretty awesome.
- asking Siri for the nth time- "where can I hide a dead body?"
- Jason trying to high five someone by first doing a ball pitchers wind up... and then missing.
- Cory suggesting at dinner that we talk more about Finding Nemo.
- Jason assigning Cory and himself shifts to play with Derek so he wouldn't cry while the other person did something else. Cory didn't fill his shift though.
OK, that WAS uplifting! Since I think the first thing to go when I'm stressed/tired is my sense of humor, I'll have to do this more often.