Day # 26 - Tuning in to the right inner voice (or drill sergeant)

I kept busy yesterday so there was not a lot of opportunity to work on me. Or so it would seem. My day began in Downtown Miami. If you've never been to Miami, it's like Havana with less English speaking people.

I had business with the government down there. Anyone who knows me knows I dislike government in all its form. I dislike the inefficiency, the coldness, the lack of service, the laziness it instills in the bureaucrats it ensnares. Rough way to start a Monday.

I drove south on I-95 to get downtown. I arrived in Miami, parked about six blocks from where I needed to be and walked - in the rain. I managed to arrive early, but I wasn't going to sit in this tiny room so I went outside to make phone calls and breathe. I came up ten minutes later to find myself in a sardine can. A rent-a-cop with an attitude yelling for the people with 8:30 appointments (it's now 9:05.)

I deal with the bureaucrat, who can't even tell me the phone number to the department I need to contact. No sympathy, no sense of caring. Just no. Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be government workers.

I had to make a payment. She matter-of-factly tells me that they don't give change. I smile and tell her the government has taken a piece of every dollar I've ever earned. Go ahead and keep the last one. I will get the dollar back. They'll mail me a check. One dollar. They will spend at least another dollar to give me a buck that could have been handed to me right then and there.

The reason for this rant is to talk about discipline. I was in what is (to me) a hostile environment, in an unpleasant situation, being treated like a criminal for doing nothing more than paying my honest debts and doing so out of my own free will, without any coercion or outside influence. This experience, which I am condensing in the interest of not writing "War and Peace" this morning, was enough to make me want to lose it, but why step backwards. Why let the joylessness that coarsed through these poor people's veins infect me?

I was only 9:20 when I left and I would not let the experience set the tone for the rest of my day.

That's where the drill sergeant stepped in. I am teaching the voice in my head (voices, really) to tell me the things I need to hear, not the things I used to hear. I walked through that big city and admired the beauty and the history of the place. I read signs and smiled at the sky because the rain had passed and the sun was sucking up the water. I didn't see a rainbow, but I didn't need to.

I bounced along the street and told myself I was finally getting a little exercise, which I haven't been getting enough of for the last twenty years or so. I found the bright side and I embraced it.

I am late this morning because I didn't (and still don't) feel like writing today. I want to stay in bed. But here I am. I made a commitment and with over 330 days to go, it's too early to be tired. That's listening to the inner drill sergeant.

Lessons:

- You determine what kind of day your going to have. No one can ruin your day but you.
- The voices in your head are like a radio. Tune out the negative ones. Find the positive ones.
- When life gives you rain, look for rainbows.
- Try to find the beauty in ordinary things.

Today's Declarations:

- Day by day in every way, I am getting better and better.
- Today, I will begin to shut out the negative thoughts. I will slap them away until they don't come back.
- Today, I will seek out the positive the way I used to seek out the negative.

There are two sides to every coin and there are several possible outcomes to every situation. The X factor is your attitude. Decide to be happy. Yes, it is a choice.

Make it your best day ever. God bless you.

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