Enough With The Scary

I know, I know it’s Halloween and Scary Stuff is supposed to happen.  But this post isn’t about Halloween.  It’s about life in general and our attitudes.

It’s easy to have a negative attitude when we see things that aren’t going well.  And it’s also easy to rant and share rants on social media about the stuff we don’t like.

Sometimes the negative stuff that is going around is scary.  We see it online or hear about it from the news media, or both.

There have always fearful people and negative folks before we had the WWW and 24/7 news channels.  We called it gossip.

Overall, what is your outlook towards life?

What is your attitude towards your own life?

Now, really, are the words you say and actions you do reflect what you just said?

Have you ever got stuck in a downward cycle, at least in your mind?

Do you have a way to turn that around?

If you need some guidance in this area, there are plenty of possible ways to change.

I’ll share a simple method that I use and works for me:

First off, I am a spiritual person.  Specifically a Christian.

I know I may be fortunate to live another 50 years on this planet, probably less, but each day is a gift no matter how old or young I am.

I’ve also witnessed enough years to know that God is in control and it’s better to align myself with Him instead of rebelling and purposely and knowingly going against God. However as a human, I do screw up and sin.  Any sin is a sin and there are no “degrees of sinfulness” in God’s eyes.  Amazingly though,  The whole Christian experience is that God wants to forgive us and love us despite our imperfect humanness and that’s why Jesus came, walked, talked, died and lives again.

Without getting too preachy, let me just say that I’ll gladly talk with you more about this if you ask, but the point of what you are reading today is to share how I avoid the scary part of living on this planet.

I pray to God.  It’s an ongoing conversation.  Sometimes silently, sometimes out loud, sometimes with others, more often by myself.

I also look around.  I have seen the changing of the seasons for 50 years now and as predictable as the  leaves falling off the trees this time of year is the new leaves growing in the spring.  This is a reassuring cycle of life, right?

I also devote parts of my life to others.  Serving others.  Helping others. Being there for others. Instead of focusing on the stuff I have no control over, except worry, I would rather look for ways to help.  And actually do that kind of work.  Action, not just talking about stuff but getting involved with time and energy.

The past 10+ years I have met many others in Fort Wayne that live this action based philosophy.  Many are younger than me, several are my age and a few are older.  Age doesn’t matter.  Attitude does.

Which brings me back to the beginning of what I wrote today.

My attitude is what inspires me to take positive actions in my life and those around me.  Enough with the Scary, except for tonight if you want, after all it is Halloween.