Storm? What Storm?

storm's a brewing
storm’s a brewing

I recently wrote about “how I calm my inner storm” for a writing challenge.  After much contemplation, I found that some of my storms weren’t so big after all.  But, I must say that when they first appear on the horizon of my brain or heart they are definitely at least an F5 or Category 4.

I tend to face life head on.  I am normally not one to cower when life sends a curve ball.  I’ve learned, by experience mostly, that I cannot necessarily change the course of a storm or even the impact it will have on me and my family.

So, when the storms form and come at me, after I react in a highly emotional way, I pull back a little and look.  I look into my heart and mind and try to see a higher perspective.  A God’s – Eye view, so to speak.

I don’t always see a different view right away.  Sometimes it comes in a calming presence of divine.  A calm that I could not have found myself.  This kind comes during great hurt and loss.  The kind of stuff that I can’t help myself at all to get through or face.

Sometimes it comes more in my head where I have to deliberately find the different perspective.  I have to actively go to a better place, to look for a different view.  That often happens when the everyday kind of storms come along.  These are the hardest for me.

Those annoying inconveniences that come out of no where.  Those water spouts or dust devils that will not tear your house down but they can make a heart uneasy and things a little messy.

So how do I stay positive from day to day or hour to hour or minute to minute?  It’s a tough job and I have decided that life is too precious to waste energy on negatives and inconveniences and bad attitudes.  It is a decision that I have to make daily and sometimes often in one day.

I have to decide to be happy and make the most of my life.  When I do that I find that everything looks brighter, even the loved ones I spend my life with.  Happiness and right choices are contagious.  I want to spread that.

It’s not easy.  My brother goes to the woods we played in as kids (in his head).  His happy place.  I like that.  For me, even though I have places like The Woods also, I tend more to picture my best Friend, Jesus, sitting there with me.  He doesn’t have to speak.  He just has to be there. Just be with me and I don’t feel alone inside.

I choose to think on the positive things.  That is challenging because I was raised to think on the negative.  As an adult I changed that.  And as I said above, it is work.  But a work that is so rewarding.

It has become a passion of mine to help others to see a different view.  I love to see another’s eyes open to a whole new view of their storms.  A positive one.  We were never promised that our lives would be butterflies, rainbows and sunshine.  So, when the rains come and the clouds get really dark we need to embrace the storm and the shelter provided for us.  The sun will shine again and the flowers will bloom and yes, the rainbows will appear.

Enjoy!

cate b

Author: Cate B

I'm a writer/blogger. I am in love with Creation and especially THE Creator. He is my best friend. I love to write and I love to bake – especially pie – and I love to crochet – among other creative things…….. I am passionate about the potential I see in others…….. I want to help them get there.

24 thoughts on “Storm? What Storm?”

  2. another good one Cate! you always have a way of making others see from a different perspective! and always a good one! this was a really good post, i enjoyed it a lot…keep ’em coming … 😉

  4. thanks Cate– you don’t know how much I needed to hear this right now. Stand back, get God’s perspective on my current crazy life. thank you for speaking so honestly…

          1. I’m going to Kukup in Malaysia with my photography friends. I posted something about it last year. Time flies! Thanks for the well wishes earlier. I forgot to be polite, lol… Are you planning any egg hunting for your grandchildren or are they still too young?

            1. Not me. I think Lucy’s parents are taking her. I’m still nursing stupid sinus bug. Keeps wanting to stay. A stubborn germ. But my husband said he has chocolate from Ukraine that some friends brought back. That should make me better.

  7. I think some people are born to favour one way over the other but that we can actively choose and be different than that. I have known depression that rocked my world at the time but the light comes on and the relief is palpable. I realised that I needed to choose optimism and positivity on an everyday basis to combat the predisposition to depression. That’s not to say that it can be avoided or that people choose depression. They don’t. The mind and chemical imbalances that may occur can be the undoing of even the rosiest of outlooks. But, for me, there is a core of positivity that I have to fight to maintain at times. It becomes habit even in the face of adversity although it is tested by negativity from others.
    It is a challenge to change the mindset of others and I don’t even know if that’s possible without the change evolving wthin themselves. But observation of positivity in others even while facing challenges is a good place to start. Leading by example if you will.
    Something must give reason for that faith and outlook. The best we may hope for, I think, is to keep the faith and hope that everyone finds the trigger that urges them on to a more positive outlook. I certainly find it liberating and worth the sruggle it sometimes still can be. Not dwelling on the negatives and always seeking answers to life’s curve balls makes for less depression for me and, hopefully, a happier mother, wife, parent, sister, friend, self than I would perhaps otherwise be.
    A lovely post this,that makes me glad that others too know the advantages of perspective and outlook. Change is always possible. Hugs to you for being a ray in the clouds that form around us all.x

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