Finding the joy in life with grey clouds in the mind...

Finding the joy in life with grey clouds in the mind... 1. Each day make a list of your problems. Be specific. Write down who or what is bothering you. 2. Describe how this makes you feel. Are you angry, sad, lonely, fearful? Write this down. 3. Identify the area of you life which best describes your problem (i.e. financial insecurity; insecurity in personal relationship; affects your self esteem) - you can have more than one answer. Many of our problems stem from a fear of losing something. Losing a job, losing a partner or friend, losing a position of status, losing financial support, and so on. Other problems occur when we are angry with someone or something. Anger can cause you much personal discomfort and prevent you from achieving true happiness. Sometimes we get upset just because we didn't get our way. We think we know what is best for us, but we are not all-knowing as we often wish. 4. In each case, whether justified or not, ask yourself if this situation is worth giving up your personal happiness. 5. Ask yourself if you took any actions that put you in this situation (be honest!). Ask yourself if you have any part in the situation, even if you did nothing wrong. Do you find yourself in these kinds of situations very often? If so, you might think about the common denominators in these situations, that is, what do they share in common? Write it down. You may be surprised. We all play a role in our situations. This requires a great deal of thought concerning our own actions and less thought of what others have done. Somewhere, deep inside us, we have an internal gauge that irritates us from the inside out when we have done something to cause harm. Some call this guilt, but whatever you call it, when we are accountable for our actions and do our best to make things right, it stops poking at us and allows us to enjoy personal freedom and happiness.  And in the times when we are not responsible for situations, or others have wronged us, we are not helpless within them, we have the choice to empower ourselves to learn to let go, perhaps to forgive, not to forget, but ultimately to untangle ourselves from negative baggage so we can fly free.