Melissa Bernstein's Blog - Posts Tagged "mental-health"

This attitude change from a helpless victim to one taking responsibility for her life choices alleviated that deep sense of hopelessness in bringing order to chaos. This major awakening lesson became: we can choose life and the attitude with which we greet each day. Or said differently, we can continue to drown in despair, or take concrete action and channel our pain into positive creation and connection. I was so convinced I needed to formalize this behavior change in moving forward, I wrote a pledge making it official:

“I, Melissa Bernstein, have a choice to make each day. I can either wallow in misery, imprisoned in my head ranting, raving and blaming others for my state, or choose to greet the world with positivity and desire to live life fully. Doing so doesn’t necessarily mean I will succeed, but will commit myself to being a joy and light seeker all remaining moments of my life. That means I will not allow dark days to convince me there are no light ones ahead—rather see them as part of life knowing sunlight is always waiting above the clouds. Choosing life also means I will offer self-kindness and compassion, no longer inflicting harm in criticizing, berating, starving, exhausting, second-guessing and tormenting myself. Given I will respect my entire being, I will ask others do the same, clearly expressing my feelings and no longer allowing them to offend, hurt, overuse or maltreat me. I am choosing life and making a commitment to living honestly and gratefully each day here-forth.”

At the end of the day it was actually all about control, yet not a lack of control as I had always believed. In fact, I held ultimate control over life with my mindset, my choices, and the power to write my own life story. And I could continue operating misguided by the sense each day was filled with despair, or believe differently and more optimistically that life had the potential to be joyous and fulfilling. It was entirely up to me.

We can choose to see the world
Awash in joy or steeped in gloom
For a wasteland can transform
Into a garden flush with bloom
If we open up our eyes
And simply revel in each day
Finding promise reigns supreme
With blue skies waiting past the gray