“We take captive every thought”
Our state is slowly, s-l-o-w-l-y re-opening after the COVID-19 Stay Home – Stay Safe order. As a matter of fact we are still a mostly closed state. During my morning walk this morning at 7 AM, not a soul was in sight. During this time of year, people are usually walking their dogs, the kids are still in school, buses and cars would have kept the walk noisy. Instead I stood in the middle of a four-way stop and took photos of empty streets all four ways. See above photo. Things are not back to normal yet…
As we creep back to “normal” life again (whatever that means for our future) I have discovered that cynicism has crept into my life. Not just occasionally, but almost everything that comes out of my mouth sounds cynical. Cynical is not a word that I would have ever used to describe myself. But somehow seeing things through cynical eyes has crept into my life.
Thought like:
“Nobody cares”
“You can’t trust the news”
“Our employer doesn’t care about their employees”
“Don’t trust anyone in government”
However this is NOT who I am!
I am in a book club and we are learning to take our thoughts captive. That means that I am responsible for my own negative, hurtful and harmful thoughts, and I want to STOP them and replace them.
Recently, I have discovered an antidote for cynical thoughts. I take a daily “mental health” walk. (Insert cynical thought about my walk not helping my physical body.) I frequently set an intention for my walk, something positive for me to think about or focus on. Recently it was suggested that I use my walk to bless those around me.
I started by blessing and giving thanks for every part of my body:
- I blessed my knees for carrying me on the walk
- I blessed my hips for not hurting
- I blessed my eyes for seeing the beauty around me
- I blessed my ears for hearing birds
Then I started on the things around me:
- I blessed the sidewalks for giving me a smooth path to walk on.
- I blessed the people walking their dogs and their cheerful greetings.
- I blessed those who picked up after their dogs and those who didn’t.
- I blessed the people driving their cars.
- I blessed the beautiful flowers who are filling the measure of their creation just by growing and being beautiful.
It went on and on, and just when I thought I would run out of things to bless, I would look around and see something else that I had never paid any attention to, and now I was able to bless it just for being.
How about you? Have you noticed that your thoughts are more cynical than before the shut down? Try a “blessing walk”. My mood is so much more positive after one of these walks!
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