Today Is a New Day
New day, new options, new choices – what will I do?
When I woke up this morning, I had a choice.
Focus on the problems, concerns, issues, and various negatives in my life.
– Or –
Seek, find, and/or create options, solutions, potential, possibilities, and positives.
Choosing positivity over negativity cannot be in denial nor disregard for negativity. That’s how toxic positivity comes into being. This is about approach, intention, and action.
But before I get into this, there is an elephant in the room not to be ignored:
Shit happens.
Lots of things are happening in the world that are upsetting, disconcerting, scary, and distracting as hell. One of the largest negatives of the internet is how easily you can go down a given rabbit hole – sometimes to the exclusion of logic and reality.
If I give this too much attention, finding positivity gets extra challenging. And these are matters and concerns that are way, way outside of my control.
Then there are more personal issues. People, situations, things that directly impact my life but are also outside of my control. Focusing on strained friendships, financial matters, and the how of other personal things outside my control over the past few weeks can be discouraging.
This is why I am reminding myself – and sharing with you – that today is a new day. And because it’s a new day the past has passed. I alone can learn from it – or not. Those lessons can inform me as I move into this new day and decide if I will see it for potential and possibility (positivity) or lack and impossibility (negativity).
New day, new options, new choices – what will I do?
Approaching the new day
Every single morning, I get to choose – see today in anticipation of a good day or a bad day? My approach will impact how it goes.
Whether you believe in the Law of Attraction or not – it is a law of nature. Like attracts like. Frequently, this is super subtle. This is why if you approach the day with dread and dismay you will likely have a dreadful and dismaying day.
But – you might point out – you’ve had experiences where you started out that way – yet it changed direction. That’s because not only does shit happen – but sublime happens, too.
Yes, just like shit happening – sublime happening is equally unpredictable. You cannot count on it because it just happens.
But how I initially approach any given day affects what it will be like. So, if I get out of bed and begin with expectations of difficulties, challenges, and negatives – I’m setting up the dominoes to fall that way.
Conversely, if I approach my new day with potential, possibility, and in search of solutions – I’m positioning myself to find and/or create the positives.
This is not a perfect practice since both shit and sublime happen randomly. But at the same time, if my approach is positive, I better position myself to deal with and handle shit and other negatives that happen.
This is not toxic because I am recognizing that negative can, will, and does happen. But my approach on this new day will directly impact how that affects me.
New day, new options, new choices – what will I do?
Mindfulness and intention
Mindfulness is conscious awareness of my inner being – my mindset/headspace/psyche self. That conscious awareness – in the here and now – is informed first by sensory input. My six senses inform me of the world around me. This tells me, at this moment, where, what, why, how, when, and who I am.
Sensory input is only part of mindfulness. The rest falls on thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. What I am thinking, how and what I’m feeling, and the actions I take or don’t take create the sum total of my mindfulness.
Lots of people act for the sake of action. There is this perception that being still and inactive reflects badly on you. But taking action without intention isn’t mindful.
That’s not to say there aren’t times where mindless games, TV, and other distractions aren’t good for you. We all need to take breaks. But these distractions can lead to unintended places. That, in turn, can disempower you.
When I act with intention, there is mindfulness in what I do. For example, every morning I read. My intention is to both be entertained and enlightened. This is why I read at least a chapter of fiction (entertainment) and nonfiction (enlightenment).
However, fiction also – for me – informs. Reading the works of other fiction authors helps make my fiction writing better. The overall point, however, is that intention drives how my day is.
This is directly tied to action. Intending to do something but not doing it is the equivalent of Yoda’s quote,
“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.”
Out best intentions can have unplanned and unwanted consequences. But lack of intent also can be problematic. When you act, knowing the intention behind the action helps optimize any given day. And this is why it’s an important consideration.
New day actions
Approach and intention for a new day are meaningless without action.
Action drives me and my day. No action, nothing happens, nothing gets done. At least, nothing I desire to do. This new day can be awesome and amazing – or horrible and infuriating – depending on how I approach it and the intentions behind any actions I take.
This is true of everyone on the planet. When you take action, you set things in motion. It doesn’t need to be a big action, nor something massive and game-changing. The littlest things can be empowering.
Brushing my teeth, making my bed, taking a shower, making time to meditate, sitting at the computer for writing and editing are positive actions in my life. My approach is to create articles like this to share my journey to help you see you’re not alone – as well as to put the work into the sci-fi and fantasy I write.
All these actions have the intent of me taking control over the things in my life that I can.
Those little bits of seemingly insignificant control empower the bigger things. When I don’t take this approach and am not intentional in my action – I’m setting up this new day to suck.
Is it really that simple? Yes. Approach, intention, and action on every new day empowers or disempowers us. There will be both good days and bad – but we have choices to help control how that will impact us and overall effects.
New day, new options, new choices – what will I do?
Recognizing the impact because today is a new day isn’t hard
It begins with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions.
Knowing that today is a new day and that you have numerous options and choices for how you approach it, you get to decide how it will be. Will you focus on the problems, concerns, issues, and various negatives in your life – or – seek, find, and/or create options, solutions, potential, possibilities, and positives? When you recognize that this is within your control – and that you can choose to find and/or create positivity with this new day – that ultimately empowers you.
When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that gets reflected and spreads to more people. This creates a feedback loop of awareness and positivity. A feedback loop we can all take part in.
Then, we build more positive feelings and discover further reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve numerous aspects of our lives for the better, help overcome the overwhelming negativity of any current situation, and generate yet more positivity and gratitude.
You, me, and everybody are worthy and deserving of all the good we desire.
An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of pure positivity. That positivity can generate even greater positive energies – and that is always worthwhile.
This is the three-hundred and eighty-ninth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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