Dear Reader:

My lifetime love of words has definitely been a huge influence on my perception of the world and my place in it… and I know I am not alone in this endeavor.

Author Vernon Howard once spoke about a man who wrote down what he called ” beautiful words” in a small notebook. They included such words as joy, love, crystal, blossom, sparkle. Every morning this man would read about a dozen or so words from his list. When the opportunity arose throughout the day, he would use them in conversation. He told a friend, ” Because I looked at the world only through rose-colored words, I became rose-colored myself.”

Now try this lesson in cause and effect.

Unhappy, upset, tears, depressed, gloom, sullen, dark, morose, sad, dismal, hopeless, bleak, sorrow, misery, somber, despair

How do they make you feel? Now read the following:

Joyful, mirthful, joking, giggle, happy, laughter, glad, silly, cheerful, amusement, merriment, delightful, fun, jovial, jolly, hilarious

If we are what we think, then maybe we need to rethink the things that disturb us and relabel them. It changes how we view our ” upsets.” The shift is slight, but the impact is often major because it “reframes” the upset. ( just like the frame of a picture affects the final outcome. )

Humor helps tremendously… like when my old television takes a ” vacation” right in the middle of a movie… I just renamed it ” Old Fadeful” ( it leaves but always returns) or when I confessed my frustration last week when I accidentally deleted my just completed blog post. I remember thinking that perhaps instead of viewing myself as a writer I should be called ” The Eraser.”

I loved this anecdote about a nurse who came up with a great title for herself … in a potentially depressing atmosphere of nursing care.

” Joan said she began to see her work in a less burdensome way after she used some wordplay to describe her job of working with critically ill patients… in a geriatric ward. She started walking into the patients’ rooms with a big grin and announcing herself as ” Hi! My name is Joan and I’m going to be your body scratcher, patcher, wire attacher, and bedpan snatcher!”

So until tomorrow…

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh