What do the dirty clothes on the floor really mean?
Life can whizz by so fast we miss it. I look at my son and wonder how we arrived at a point in time where my baby is twenty years old. When I think about the last twenty or so years, we have so many amazing memories. The really good ones for me usually involve holiday roller coaster experiences. I love roller coasters! To me they mean, family fun, freedom, laughter and letting go of my need to control what is happening around me. I do realise that for others they signify terror!
We do really see with our thoughts. Everything we think colours what we are looking at, whether it is a person, thing or an experience. These thoughts are affected by how we are feeling in the moment. If I am in a great humour and I find dirty clothes on floor, then I just pick them up and pop them in the laundry basket. If I have decided I am tired or just plain grumpy, then the dirty clothes can mean something else entirely. First they could mean that no one listens to me, they could mean that my family are useless, they could mean that everyone expects me to pick up after them and so on and so on...
But, what are the clothes on the floor? They are clothes on the floor! Nothing else at all. There may have been some specific reason why they were left there that makes sense to the clothes owner! It actually has nothing at all to do with me. This is where the life principle of attributing others with the best intentions comes in. I know from experience that this can be downright impossible sometimes but it is great to catch yourself when you are not doing it. No one gets up in the morning (I hope!) and starts the day saying to themselves - "I am going to irritate as many people as possible today". So why do we so often assume that this is the case? We are all doing the best we can in the circumstances of our lives and the current flow of our thinking.
So what are you habitually noticing in your life and what could you change about this? I love to smile at people when I am out and about. Sometimes I get no response from them at all, they don't even see me. I do usually manage to catch myself before I run my thoughts down a spiral of how no one connects any more and they whole world is grumpy or whatever random stuff comes to mind. Flapjack, my dog, is great for reminding me of this. When we are walking he greets all the people like long lost friends, regardless of whether he gets attention from them or not. It also makes no difference to how he behaves to the next person that comes along. His particular favourite are people who are getting out of parked cars. I can just see him assuming that they have stopped just to chat to him! Luckily for him, he is cute and nearly everyone does give him some attention.
What can you notice today that you have not noticed before? This can be easy...wind in my face, cool water going down my throat or we can take it deeper and look at how it is affecting our lives. Take a few minutes at the beginning of each day this week to reflect on what you can notice differently! See if you can stop yourself from falling into some of your usual negative thought patterns.
