credit: Michelle Meiklejohn
I'm irritated this morning and wallowing in it. And I really need to get over it. It's not doing me or anyone else any good. It really doesn't matter what it is that I'm irritated about, we all have our individual irritations and have to struggle with them at times. What does matter is that I find a way to rise above the irritations and move on. So this morning I'm looking at some ways to do just that.
The first step is to pray about it. There's no point in trying to hide how I feel from God. He knows how I'm feeling and why. He made me the way I am and knows, better than I do, all the ins and outs of what is bothering me. So in telling Him about it I am reaching out to the one who best understands and has the power to help me pull out of my irritation.
The second step is to take a few minutes to focus on the good. No matter how irritated and frustrated I am, there are always good things to focus on. And the more I think about it the more I realize the good far outweighs the bad.
As some of the bad feeling begin to slip away, my third step is to take a short amount of time to think through the problem and see if there is a constructive way to minimize some of what is bothering me in the first place. Is there one thing I can do to help keep this from being an issue. I need to take responsability for my feelings and take positive action toward making it better. It may be as simple as choosing to smile in spite of it, or choosing to change my attitude.Maybe I need to calmly and respectfully explain why I am irritated and work on together on finding a solution. Or their may be another solution that I had not thought of before. Sometimes I simply need to laugh at my childishness at letting small things bother me and move on.
The last step is to take action. Whether it's on the specific issue at hand, or on something else constructive, taking positive action helps to pull me out of my pit of self pity.
Life is always going to have it's up and downs. That's just life. And sometimes the little bumps along the way serve to remind me to stop and look around for the good things that I am so richly belssed with.
Or as this quote so aptly says -
It just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants ~ Author Unknown
Sorry you were so irritated but it sounds like you worked it out for yourself very well. It is a fine act of balancing what we want and meeting the needs of others while finding a way to be in the world you can be proud of.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I feel irritated and grumpy almost every morning. So much so that I don't feel like getting out of bed and finally get up around the time I should have reached office.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to follow your method, hoping that it puts me at ease and my days start better.
Thanks