Lighten Up ~

Impress upon yourself this eternal truth: Most things don't amount to a hill of beans.

Even though I'm working through some situations personally, I wanted to post something on here that might give you inspiration for your own life. I've given you some material from Victoria Moran before, and this essay is "Lighten Up" from her book Fit from Within. You might guess that it's a book about attitudes which serve you well when you want to lose weight or stay skinny. This probably appeals to me because I need to lighten up for sure, but it could be that some of you also yearn for a way to lift your spirits and see the world from a lighter perspective. So here is her essay.

Lighten Up

Lighten up is a lovely metaphor: when you can do it with your attitude, your body is apt to follow. Of course some things are serious. That doesn't mean we have to take everything seriously, especially not ourselves. If someone cuts in front of you in line, you are not obligated to make a moral issue out of it. If there is toilet paper stuck to your shoe, you don't have to be mortified. Try amused instead. If you have a different opinion from someone else, it is probably not imperative that this person understand your point of view, and explaining it for the fifteeneth time will not clarify your position any better than the first fourteen explanations did.

Impress upon yourself this eternal truth: Most things don't amount to a hill of beans. In the majority of endeavors, winning is overated, and in most human interactions one-upping is far less pleasant than two conversing. The arguments, jealousies, and misunderstandings that can make life so unpleasant--and send many an overeater to the nearest microwave--are, for the most part, insignificant. Let them go or "let go and let God."

You don't have to appear brilliant, sophisticated, and on top of things every minute of your life. It's okay to hear the name of a writer or politician or composer and say, "Who's that?" Sincerity is far more appealing than pretense. "I don't know" is a legitimate answer to a host of questions, and "I'm not going to worry about this now" is a legitimate response to a host of troubles. Refusing to fret over what you can do nothing about is closely related to refusing to eat over what you can do nothing about. Do your best to be less distraught when things don't work out the way you'd hoped they would. More often than not, this means that life has something better in store for you anyhow. 

We all know the truth of this essay, but it helps sometimes to refresh our mind and memory about some easy and thoughtful things to raise our attitudes to a higher level. I hope you enjoyed it. 

Blessings...Mimi