*Jozzua

You generally attract what you think about. Since you can’t control and manage all the thoughts that come in and out of your brain, you need a simpler way of getting negative ideas out. Look at your emotions. Ask yourself, how are you feeling today?

If you aren’t feeling good, your internal alarm bells should already be ringing. You need to get out of the negative emotions. How?

Some suggested methods to feel good right now:

• Think about how you are feeling. Focus on the feeling itself. Then SMILE for one minute. Hey, you might look like fool - that’s the idea. Laugh at yourself if you must (but do it in secret). The point is, the sooner you can laugh about it and move on, the better.
• Listen to music. Get your mp3 player or iPod and run your favorite play list. Make sure to play upbeat tunes. Dance to the beat of the music. Sing along.
• Read comics. I subscribe to Dilbert comics on my RSS reader. The daily comics pile up when I’m busy. Then, when I’m not feeling to well, I browse through the comics. It generally gets me to smile. Try it!
• Watch YouTube Funnies. If you have a pretty fast internet connection, surf for anything funny on YouTube. Personally, I like looking for classic Filipino TV commercials. I appreciate the creativity of our fellow Pinoy advertisers.
• Write Poetry. This is one of my favorite activities when I’m feeling extremely emotional. A good friend helped me back on the poetry-writing path. Use metaphors to explain what’s happening to you. If you don’t like poems, just write a paragraph or two. Just let the emotions out. Let the feelings flow. Once you do that, you can breathe easier.

I’m sure you can think of other ways. Point is, if you’re feeling bad, don’t dwell on it too much. You can let it in if you want but try to move it out as quickly as you can. It’s your choice. You have a choice, you know.

Cliché title. I know, but there IS a bit of sense in it.

I’ve been busy with work lately yet I find myself occasionally distracted by things around me. One event was the major work layoff of a lot of friends. Wrote something briefly about it:

I couldn’t think.

There as a deep penetrating pain between my eyebrows. I must’ve have been reading too much. After all, I did just chat with a dozen different people from the south. It’s all fuzzy right now though.

I vaguely remember reading from the computer monitor…”It was a surprise… We had no notice… We had to sign to get the checks.” They were reaching out to me - to us here.

Apparently, there was crying.

Outside the office, I saw the rain suddenly pour.

I write things like these to release some stress. Hey, there’s nothing I could do but empathize and write something about it. Really, I find that writing about things like these help.

I chatted with my friends using Yahoo Messenger and tried to console them as best I could. I also told them to look at it from another perspective. This could just be the opportunity they need - perhaps to get out of the office, to live life a little, to be free. Maybe they could even start their own company. What the heck! With the skills they have, they could really make it. All it needs is a bit of courage and a paradigm shift.

The world could go upside down but it won’t matter. What matters is how people see the world.

You see, we tend to react to what’s around us. What happens to us. We become sad, angry, afraid or confused. Instead of allowing that to happen, take action. Listen to music. In my case, I write it down. I let the emotions out. I release it to the world.

Then live on. Be free. Smile and look at the brighter side of it.

My friends DID get a form of separation pay. It was not too shabby. With some of the money they’ve received, they could start their own business! Or they could just find new work and use the money for something else. Consider it an early Christmas bonus or something.

It all starts with them mind. Just move to a more thankful form of thinking. Have a gratitude attitude and then believe that things work out. Have faith.