Wishing on the rising sun

One of the qualities that I like least about myself is my tendency to go to the worst possible scenario. This isn't a panic attack -- it's a heart attack! Money isn't just tight, I'm going to lose everything! My house isn't just dirty -- it's scandalous, it's dangerous! Our government has actually contributed to creating more America hating terrorists than it's done to prevent terrorism! Oh, wait a minute, that last one is true.

It's a confusing world, and my tendency to paint everything black makes it more so. It's the ongoing struggle between perception and reality. Sometimes to keep going, I have to pump myself full of happy talk. Positive affirmations and visualizations can be a wonderful tool, but there's always the chance that one can create an equally false image of the world. Rose colored glasses have to come off sometime, and I don't live in a rose garden

Shakespeare said that nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Well, I do disagree. I firmly believe that true good and true evil exist in this world, but I live my life somewhere in the middle of that continuum, which makes my perceptions about the world around me all the more important. I may be in the mode of having to struggle to get through each day, but I'm smart enough to want to do so with both feet firmly planted on the ground. I have literal depth perception problems, and I've fallen more than once because I thought my next step should land either higher or lower than the accurate level of the ground below me. Life throws me off balance easily enough. I don't want to make it worse by not seeing things as they are.

So here is my wish for this day, even though it begins with the pall of too little sleep and caffeine. I want clarity and equilibrium, to see things as they are and not be knocked over by them, to meet both pleasures and dangers with peace of spirit, nimbleness of mind and appropriate action.

reality
perception