Skip to main content

Comparison


This week the same phrase keeps running through my head, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  Over and over... again and again.
I understand why it is haunting me.  I need to hear it.  I need the gentle reminder that when I start to make comparisons, even simple ones, it takes away from me.  It makes a question mark stand out about how my life is or how it stacks up.
Comparison takes the joy out of what is and pulls out the attitude of "oh, I wish" or "isn't that neat"  or "why can't I do that?" or "how does she do that?"  It is a simple thing and it happens all the time.  It's automatic.  It creates a wishing or longing that comes from the head, not the contentment that the heart could feel if those simple thoughts were kept in check a bit more.
There are so many different ways to live in this world.  So many ways to look at life.  So many possibilities and ideas that become important or inspiring.  It's unique for each person.  There really isn't a need to compare.
I will continue to shift and focus on finding joy and gratitude in my interactions with people, looking at their circumstances with wonder and awe, letting comparison fall away.  I want to find inspiration and hope in what people choose and how they live.  I want to feel the joy of living my life.
I am going to let that phrase continue to run through my head for as long as it needs to, but I am going to add the phrase, "I am enough and for whatever I need to do I am enough."

Is there a phrase that keeps circling through your thoughts or an attitude
that you can't seem to shake? What is it asking you to shift or look into a bit further?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Letting go & holding on- how you can do both at the same time

Everyday I am thinking about letting go.  My days are spent in sessions with clients, or reading about decluttering tips, or writing blog posts, all in an effort to support clients as they let go of clutter and unwanted habits.  Letting go is something that I have made into my life's work, but never is it more "in my face" than when I sit with my grandma at the nursing home.  My grandma has Dementia/Alzheimers.  I don't even know what or which or why or how, but I do know that it seems we have lost her to the disease and letting go & holding on are happening all at once. As I sit and watch her sleep, I can stroke her hand and feel the many memories of playing Go to the Dump or Crazy Eight on my days off of Kindergarten, getting a home perm in her kitchen in elementary school, and painting my nails at her kitchen nook in H.S.  I remember learning how to snap a dish towel with my cousins as we cleaned up from holiday gatherings & singing and dancing...

Creativity

This summer has been a journey in the pursuit of my creative person!  It started with the desire to seek a new path, to try on some new ways of thinking, and to shift a bit from the usual patterns.  My soul was yearning to make more time for creativity, so I have been using the past two months to honor that spirit in me. I thought that I would start from the very beginning-try putting myself through an elementary art class.  That meant going through a step-by-step process of learning how to draw, watercolor, use oil pastels, paint, etc.  I got started with a kid's art book from the library and a trip to The Sketchy Artist.  I bought a few supplies and sat down to start my lessons. The lessons didn't last.  I am completely interested in playing around with all of the supplies and trying out techniques, but I found a rigid plan to "be creative" isn't what I need. What I am coming to understand is that creativity is more than an art class.  Creativity ...

Knowing

After thinking about all of those old worn out tapes of my saboteur, I decided to take some time to find the cheerleader in me.  Unfortunately, it took some uncovering. For quite awhile, I tried hard to hear a voice that might shout "You can do it!  Believe in yourself! Yes, you are on the right track!"  But, no-I couldn't hear anything like that. I tried to locate where the voice was in my body.  Was it in my gut? Everyone always says, "listen to your gut," but mine wasn't telling me anything.  Not literally.  And what I thought I needed to look for was a voice that would whisper words to me.  I thought there must be something wrong since my little cheerleader, fairy godmother, voice of God, wasn't giving me any verbal reassurance. I needed to rethink this.  Maybe the old "trust your gut" advice is just meant to remind you that it's not your head that will guide you, but your body or heart? So, what are the cues my body gives me when ...