Wednesday, August 10, 2011

P IS FOR POOL

Given the time of year, I would like to say that this post is going to be all about this kind of pool:



image found here

However, that is not the case. You have to watch this clip from one of my all-time favorite movies (and musicals) to get where this post is going. It is from THE MUSIC MAN starring Robert Preston. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched it, though not recently. Anyway, this is one of my favorite scenes for oh so many reasons.






Oh, we got trouble right here in River City, with a capital T, that rhymes with P, and stands for Pool. Masstyria. Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground.

And my personal favorite is at the very beginning: River City isn't in any trouble. Well, then we have to create some.

And so it goes.

I have had several conversations on a variety of topics in recent days that all lead back to the same thing. People create trouble to get what they want. You can have a perfectly wonderful system in place and someone will come along and abuse it. Why? Because they can. Because they are manipulative, lazy, scheming, etc. There are a whole host of reasons.

The thing is this: you cannot change it. For instance, there will always be people trying to get Social Security Disability who can work. There will be people who get Disability who couldn't work, but then can work, but choose not to go back to work. Or they go back to work under the table and continue to get the Disability money while working. If you allow your brain to dwell on these things, you stay fixed in the land of negativity. That is not a good place to live.

One of my Facebook friends, who I don't really know, posted something in her status the other day about appreciation. She said that the more she appreciates each thing in her life, the more things there are to appreciate. That was a bit of a jolt for me. I knew that already, but I wasn't doing it. I wasn't feeling appreciative. I was still feeling mostly pissed that my dad didn't live the 6-9 months that they gave him. He only stuck around for three. I wanted more time and I wasn't appreciating the fact that he left me so soon. In fact, I was still pretty upset about it. We are having thunderstorms almost every day and that gives me killer migraines. Not appreciating that so much. My cycle has been coming every two weeks since February. Really not appreciating that. My hormonal imbalance is tipped all the way over. Can we say that the migraines are just killing me? So, yeah, my appreciation levels have been LOW.

However, when I read that status, I remembered that negative builds on negative and positive builds on positive. I can keep my focus on everything I just wrote that I am really not happy about, or I can find one thing each day that pleases me, and think on that. And think on it and think on it and think on it. And if that is the only thing I have, I stick with it. Maybe it is just listening to songs that make me happy. Or watching MY NAME IS EARL because it makes me laugh and laugh and laugh. Or playing with my dog. Or reading a good book. Honestly, it doesn't matter what it is so long as it is positive.

Remember, my friends, listen to me, because I pass this way but once!

7 comments:

  1. Get ouf of my head you! What you say/write is oh so true! I needed this broken down to me, so I could "get" it. Thank you. By the way, I've never seen Music Man, but hear it's very good!

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  2. I absolutely love the way that ideas and vibes seem to move their way around the blogosphere. Dwelling on the positive seems to be one of the latest wonderful commonalities.
    It is so comforting and constructive to read what others have to say. And then take it in and use it for good. Just knowing that we are not alone in this world is such a great thing. And then to see how others deal with tougher or just different situations can really be eye-opening.

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  3. Excellent point that I try to remember day after day but don't. You would think that positive would be easier, right?

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  4. I don't believe that things cannot be changed, especially societal abuses. However, I do agree that we must keep laughing. It is the best medicine.

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  5. Robin, a most amazing post and I love this scene as well as my youngest son and grands. You are so right, people manipulate the system to fit them. People collect disability that are not disabled, people who are can't get it. We need to just try to remember each time a negative thought comes in, do we want to change it to a positive or keep it as a negative. You have blessed me today, thank you!

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  6. Great post, Robin. You always seem to hit the nail on the head with the things I'm thinking about (and you usually express it better than I could.)

    It's hard to force positivity when things are frustrating, but it's also easy to see that in a life where negatives just line up, one right after the other, that if it's all we see, it's all we'll ever get.

    I hope your journey of healing is going well. I'm wishing you all the love in the world.

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  7. An important reminder from a wise woman ... too much chaos lately, and I hang my head while admitting that I've been letting it get to me. That perky chick in the blog posts ain't the real deal! But I need to try to be her more often, rather than wallowing ... because you're right, one negative leads to another while one positive leads to another ....

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