We Get To Choose

This weekend I've had a great opportunity to practice looking for the good. On Friday night, I went to the long awaited Willie Nelson concert. The concert was great and I did get to meet Willie after the show and he signed my book and gave me a hug because I told him it was my birthday. I was elated! I smiled all the way back home, which was a three hour drive. My face hurt from smiling so much. :) But when I was waiting for Willie to come sign my book, I also approached the other members of the band as they got off their buses and I made the mistake of calling one of them by the wrong name. He was clearly offended and said he wasn't going to sign my book if I didn't even know his name. I realized my mistake later and was so embarrassed! I even told one of the other band members to tell him the girl who called him by the wrong name said she was sorry. Then I was embarrassed that I had done that! So I embarrassed myself twice! All the way home, I was so excited about hugging Willie that I didn't think about much else. But then the next morning, after I'd had some time to come down out of the clouds, I started thinking about how I offended that other band member. And I couldn't get it off my mind. Every time I'd think about it, I'd feel a flush come over me and my stomach would kind of tighten up. It kept getting bigger and bigger in my mind. What we focus our attention on is what expands in our lives. But I think I've learned that it first expands in our minds. Tonight I'm working on shifting my thoughts to how good it felt to meet Willie Nelson. I even told him I loved him and he said he loved me too. Thinking about that makes me feel a flush too but a different kind. I know he really meant it too. He loves people, always has. I could feel a very gentle and loving evergy coming from him. What an awesome man. I'm trying to think more about that and not about the other guy. I think that at any given moment we have the opportunity to choose whether to focus on happy things or not so happy things. Tonight I'm trying to choose the happy parts of my concert experience.

There was another way that I saw how true it is that what we focus our attention on is what happens in our lives. I really really really wanted to meet Willie Nelson. I thought about it a LOT in the weeks before the show. I even rehearsed in my mind what I would say to him when I met him. Of course, I forgot to say it, but still. I talked a lot about meeting Willie and it went through my mind quite frequently as I went through my day. The thing is though, it wasn't something I just conjured up and didn't really have any passion for. I REALLY was serious about meeting him and I "knew" in my heart that I would. It wasn't that I was forcing those thoughts to run through my mind. I didn't write any affirmations about it or repeat it out loud like an exercise. It was just something I wanted so much that I couldn't stop thinking or talking about it. And, sure enough, it happened. I wanted it passionately, and I believed it would happen, and I focused my attention on it and, it happened! Hmmm. I might need to patent that formula! :D