I was once taught that the most dangerous states to live in are the past and the present. Today is a new day! One thing so many people do is spend their entire lives beating themselves up for something, which they said or did or didn’t say or do years ago, but today is a new day. The past is the past and you cannot go back and change it. What you do have control over is today, so live it to its fullest, focusing on being the best you that you can be today.
Each day we have a choice. We can choose to live in the past, continuing to hold on to past hurts and regrets or we can choose to live free of conditions and other people’s rules that govern our happiness. How are you going to choose to live today?
Many of us have experienced moments when we have given power to other people’s opinions. It is important to remember that their opinion is just that their opinion. It is what they think based on their life and who they are. It has nothing to do with you unless you agree to make it part of your belief system.
I can remember a time in my life when what people thought about me and what I do in and with my life was important. Over time, it reached a spaced where their opinions of me were more important then my own happiness. It was when somebody said something negative about me that I could not agree with that I realized I needed to walk away from other people’s opinions and focus on my commitment to my own peace of mind and tranquility.
The second agreement in Toltec Wisdom, according to Don Miguel Ruiz, is to not take things personally. Whatever people think about you is about them, it is only about you if you make it about you. The people who helped me learn this lesson the most were my students. I would laugh when I would visit a website called ratemyprofessor.com and read people’s comments about me. I was either amazing or horrible. It reinforced for me that all of this was about them, not me. What was about me was whether I allowed what others said to affect me
Even if I allowed myself to be swayed by somebody’s opinion yesterday, today is a new day and an opportunity to make new choices and new decisions in my life. So just for today, commit yourself to being whatever emotion you want to be feeling today. What if everything you say or do is an active choice to assist you in feeling ___________ today? What if you took a moment to position your body as if it were saying, I am feeling ___________, so that everyone who looked at you would think hmm, now that is someone who looks ___________.
Today is a new day! What happened in the past is the past. So today, be intentional about living each day as the person you want to be. Commit each day to being the best you that you can be in being ___________. Keep your mind focused on _____________. Choose clothes that make you feel _____________. Listen to sounds that make you feel ___________. Hold your body in a way that says I am _____________. Today is a new day! Make it all about you being the best you that you can be.