How To Turn A Bad Day Into A Good Day

Have you ever had a bad day?

I know, dumb question. Of course you have. Everyone has, and even more important most of us continue to have them. In fact, lots of them!

So, have you ever wished you knew how to turn a "bad" day into a "good" one?

Once again, dumb question. Of course you have.

Well let me tell you what recently happened to me.

It's now Autumn here in the States.

The other day I woke up at 5:30am and it was kind of chilly in the bedroom. I had planned to get up like I do every day and meditate for an hour, but my thoughts were somewhere else.

"It's cold out there and I'm cozy here in bed."

"It's way too early."

"I'm too tired."

"What a waste of time getting up to meditate, I'm never going to reach enlightenment anyway."

On and on went this negative train of thought, until I finally mustered up enough willpower to drag myself out of bed.

Victory?

Not quite.

When I sat to meditate the negative thinking came back once again, this time even a bit stronger.

"Life is hard."

"Who am I kidding; I'm never going to be really happy."

"I don't want to work today...in fact I don't want to work anymore at all."

"My back hurts, my foot hurts, my arm hurts, etc."

Blah, blah, blah, I think you get the picture of what was going on in my head.

Then it finally happened!

I woke up.

Not from a sleepy state, but from the chronic negative thinking state I was experiencing.

I realized that my thoughts were simply bubbling up out of nowhere, and I was simply following them.

Now this is important, so pay attention.

At this point when my awareness kicked in, I noticed that I was letting my thoughts dictate my mental and emotional state and that I had a choice in the matter.

I could continue to follow this negative train of thought and emotion, or I could start to focus my thoughts and emotions on something different. Something positive. Something that felt better.

And that's exactly what I did.

I started turning my thoughts around and began focusing on just how unbelievably fortunate I am.

Yes, I got up early, BUT I went to bed early, and many people get up much earlier each day.

Yes, it was cold in my house, BUT I have a climate control system that lets me adjust the temperature of my home, and LOTS of people don't have this luxury.

Yes, my meditation practice often feels like it's not progressing as fast as I'd like it to, BUT how lucky am I to have an hour or more each morning to sit by myself in a quiet, peaceful environment.

I continued to follow this type of thinking throughout the morning and the rest of the day and you know what happened?

Yep. I had a great day.

Not a good day.

A GREAT day!

Anytime I found myself thinking or feeling something negative I simply said to myself, "Okay, I'm not feeling very positive at the moment. What am I thinking?"

Then once I identified what I was thinking I told myself, "Okay, I know what I don't want. So, what DO I want? What could I focus on that would feel better?"

Now this is very simple on the surface, but don't be fooled. It is not the easiest practice to master.

The mind can be stubborn and work very hard to justify the "truth" of your negative thoughts and emotions.

But, YOU can do this.

Anyone can do this. Even a child.

You can turn around a bad day, and in fact dramatically improve your experience of life with this process.

Evaluate the practice not by its simplicity, but by its results. Try it for yourself and you be the judge!