Positive Pam
How do you cope with the unknown?
Well that is certainly a long and winding journey, with no wrong or right direction. And I think that is perhaps just the answer. As with just about everything in our lives, we are all on our own personal journeys, not that you won’t share parts of these journeys with other people, of course you will. And there will be people who become integral parts of your journey. But we can all only experience things here, as we are.
Let me back this up a little bit. Something that has become quite popular is keeping a gratitude journal. Starting or ending your day by acknowledging things you are grateful for. Especially when times are uncertain, this can be an amazing grounding technique. It helps to realign and focus on what is truly important.
So lets start there. Over these past few weeks, as the Coronavirus pandemic has been sweeping the globe, I seem to keep repeating the same three things that I am grateful for.
I am grateful for my friends, family, loved ones and community.
I am grateful for my health and wellbeing.
I am grateful for my positivity.
Positive isn’t a word that I would have always used to describe myself. But I think perhaps it is something that I have grown into. Something that I have fostered and nurtured to become my default. Now, before you think, here we go, positivity blah blah rah rah! Being positive doesn’t mean that you don’t see or acknowledge the darkness. It simply means that your default position in the world is light. It means that you can see the darkness; you can sit in the solitude; you can feel the uncomfortable;….but you are able to move through it and not get stuck.
You know how people often say, “oh my gosh! I’m turning into my mother!” {YIKES!} And this typically has a negative connotation. Well, as I’ve gotten older, I have these moments where I catch myself dancing like a looney tune, bringing people together or cheering people on. In these moments, sometimes it just hits me. Holy sh*t, I’ve turned into my mother. {Positive Pam!} And I am so GRATEFUL for that. I have images of my mom, bursting into my room as a kid smiling from ear to ear, smelling of chlorine from her morning swim {that she had woken up at 5am to go do at the local YMCA before coming home to get my sister and I up for school} and I used to roll my eyes, or as a teenager, snap at her to get out of my room, so I could get a couple extra minutes of sleep. I have memories of her singing and dancing around the house to R.E.M.’s song “Shiny Happy People,” {for those of you who aren’t familiar with that song, or just want to enjoy some really sweet dance moves here’s a link to that: https://youtu.be/YYOKMUTTDdA } And yes, her dance moves were akin to those in this video.
Somehow, over the years, my mother's contagious energy, her infectious smile and desire to include everyone and cheer them on, has rubbed off on me. And now, perhaps more than ever, I am grateful that it has become a part of me. So if over the next couple days, weeks, months or maybe in some distant time when you are feeling anxious, afraid, loney, scared… I’m not asking you to push those feelings away, {Trust me, from personal experience, they will eventually bubble up and consume you!} I am asking you to be with those feelings, honor them, let them flow through you and then facetime your friends/family, put on some music and whip out your silliest dance moves. Positivity is not a rejection of other feelings, it is a muscle that if you continually flex, will get stronger and stronger and eventually be your default. Each time it be will easier to move through the other emotions without getting stuck. With love, xxalexandra
Positive Pam and Positive Alexandra in Training ♡
