Magical Dream World

I don't know when or how it happened but a few months ago when something delightful and unexpected happened, this phrase popped into my head:

"What kind of magical dream world am I living in?"

It might have been the day I realized that I worked only a block from the river which meant that I was always a three-minute walk from one of my favorite spots in Tampa. Or maybe, one day when I walked three minutes the other way to get a coffee from one of my favorite local coffee shops.

I know I said it when I was enjoying a delicious lunch on the porch with perfect Florida weather during my Thai massage workshop, which lunch aside, is one of the most healing and heart-filling experiences I've ever had.

I know I also said it when someone offered me Indian food one day. Another time when I was surprised with coffee when I had a full day at work.

(Okay, I know I have a theme here: food, walks, coffee. These are three of my favorite things!)

This question has become my own affirmation that I AM living in a magical dream world of so many abundant things.

The thing is, we all have a great adaptation in our brains called negativity bias. What that means is that as a mechanism for survival, we had to be hyper-vigilant to bad things that may happen, so we're constantly looking around for them. On it’s own, this can make for a sour and bitter life.

To counteract this, I'm training my brain to look for the great and wonderful things that are also all around me.

My peach tree is actually fruiting this year and there's even a few mangos growing in the back. I get to go out with my Mom to brunch at a cute diner in the neighborhood every Sunday. I work at place where I can take yoga classes before or after seeing clients. When I needed a mat for Thai massage, there was one already at the studio for me to use -- I didn't even have to buy one. When I needed a new dentist, I learned that one of my favorite yoga teachers was one and now I have a dentist I like and trust and would even hang out with ... what a dream that is!

See what I mean? When you start to pay attention to what's going well, you start to see that the list is often as long as what you'd complain about (or maybe even a little longer).

My list above isn't because I'm somehow blessed ... unless by "blessed" you mean "worked hard to have this perspective."

What kind of magical dream world are you living in?