Art Slam » Food for the Creative Soul

I woke up this morning in an excellent mood. According to dictionary.com, excellent means: possessing outstanding quality or superior merit; remarkably good. I would say this is accurate. I feel remarkably good. Part of the reason is a shift in the way I have been looking at just about every area of my life. How you choose to look at what is going on inside you and around you can make all the difference in cultivating a mood of excellence. For me, it starts when I get up in the morning.

The first thing I do is spend time with God. I pray, do some reading and ask for my steps to be ordered for the day. I thank God for all I am going through and ask to be strengthened to deal with areas that are challenging me to grow. It is only through challenges, storms and trials that we truly grow, anyway.

Second thing I do is gather what I need for the day. I make a choice to not worry about things I can not control and I try to avoid unconsciously engaging in the mental chatter of my mind. This is not always an easy task. I don’t like watching the news first thing in the morning. You want to talk about killing an excellent mood…watch the morning news. I conducted an experiment a while ago to see how much good news was reported on TV. Of the three local channels we have here, not one of them started the broadcast with good news. NO, NOT ONE! If the mental chatter is getting out of control, I put on some feel good music to block it out. My song of choice at the moment…Sade’s Solider of Love.

The time I spend with myself in the morning and before I get my kids up is about 45 minutes. I noticed I don’t do a whole lot of talking, the house is quiet and I get a lot accomplished in that time. This little bit of time alone sets the tone for my day. Now, some days are better than others, but for the most part, this new process has helped me get and stay in a much better mood.

You will have to ask my family if I am more pleasant to live with. I would like to believe so, as I know I have been working hard to be a better me.  I am a constant work in progress…only this time, these changes I have been making make me feel really good. They make me feel excellent.

Lent starts tomorrow and this year, I decided to participate. I did not want to be one of those people who does this because everyone else is doing it. I did some research and here is what I found:

Lent is a period of restriction, when Christians give up their vices and try to live a “better life’. It is representative of the time that Jesus spent in the desert – 40 days and 40 nights.

Now, with today being Fat Tuesday, did I indulge in what I plan on giving up? Yes, yes I did and you know what? I will be glad to let this go. Honestly, no good comes of it in the long run. This period of restriction will be a blessing. I am determined and sometimes, being determined is all you need to get started. I want to be a person of excellence…this will be a starting point for me.