Fixate On What Is Wrong Or Be Captivated By Wonder

​We walk into a beautiful flower garden. And in it, there is a weed. We have a choice. Fixate on what is wrong, or be captivated by what is wonderful.

We walk into the office at work in the morning. We are greeted by the jovial co-worker who always meets us with kindness as we rush away to meet a looming deadline. We have a choice. Fixate on what is wrong, or be captivated by what is wonderful.

We walk into the house after work. Laughing children rush to hug us as we catch a glimpse of the messy living room in the background. We have a choice. Fixate on what is wrong, or be captivated by what is wonderful.

Our significant other draws near to us. We have a choice. Fixate on what is wrong, or be captivated by what is wonderful.

It's there. All day long. Every day. The choice: fixate on what is wrong, or be captivated by what is wonderful. And the choice becomes the spirit of our lives.

A spirit of admiration or a spirit of resentment.

A spirit of peace or a spirit of anger.

A spirit of contentment or a spirit of insatiable longing.

A spirit of gratitude or a spirit constantly blinded by what is missing or what we wish wasn't there.

In the house of life, there are rooms full of good and rooms often full of the not so good. Why is it our tendency to so often want to open the door and peek into - sometimes even stare - at the rooms full of not so good? It is, after all, not a mandate but indeed a tendency as to which of those rooms we choose.

The consequences of being fixated on the wrong rooms are not small.

Lingering resentment.

Distorted memories.

Defining people by their worst moments.

Missed chances for gratitude and healing.

It might be worth some time today to remember the wonder, not just the wound.

It might be worth it to take a moment and ask yourself, what am I fixating on that might be robbing you of beauty in this world? And if you identify something, please know, fixations can shift.

Often immediately.

And many times, those shifts will become the most wonderful shifts of our lives.