When life hands you an ugly picture, reframe it

​I told a group the other day that when I am sitting in traffic on I-95, in traffic that feels like it will never end, I tell myself how lucky I am to have extra time to listen to that latest podcast episode. To listen to that song I might not get a chance to listen to otherwise. To listen to a sermon I missed on Sunday but felt too pressed for time to listen to after the fact.

It's the only way I've discovered to make the stress of traffic go away.

Please note, my method doesn't require what was stressing me to go away. It requires me to look in a different way at what was stressing me.

When it gets down to it, our minds are the source of much of our stress and hardship. Our minds want to tell us a stressful story about our circumstances when there really are less stressful stories available to tell about them.

Our minds can tell us the only way out of this stressor is for the stressor to pass. But we can tell our minds, I'm going to make something meaningful of this stressor that will make me grateful I experienced it once the stressor is gone.

Many of us have people in our lives who are occasionally difficult to deal with. I know I have them. Lately, instead of seeing these people as sources of stress, I look at them as opportunities to practice patience, empathy, and loving communication in communications that don't feel so lovable.

Maybe that does little to make that particular relationship a happy one, but it can serve to make me happier in other relationships in my life.

Too often our minds want to put a frame around the situations in our life and tell us, here is your picture.

It's useful to know we can hand that picture back to our minds and say, thank you, but I think I'm going to frame this a different way.

It's Monday. Life may hand you a picture this week you're not totally up for. Accept the picture. Just put it in a different frame before you hang it on the wall.