Watching Clouds and Controlling Your Power of Choice
What will you choose to see today?
Hi there!
Do you remember lying in the grass watching clouds roll over? Did you imagine them to be dragons, pirate ships, or elephants?
For kids, clouds are amazing and full of inspiration. I spent many hours of my childhood lying in the lush green grass examining these wonders. I saw flying saucers, dinosaurs, and funny aliens.
Ah, good times.
Somewhere along the way, my view of clouds turned. Rather than being inspirational friends, they became depressing enemies. Clouds often mean rain and cold weather, both of which equate to pain and time stuck in bed.
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”
- Rabindranath Tagore
Scott Ninneman publishes two newsletters each week. The Sunday All Things Bipolar Newsletter features the newest content about bipolar life. The Speaking Bipolar Positivity Club Newsletter shares inspirational stories three times a week to help you maintain a positive mindset.
Age and Illness
It’s no wonder the way you see clouds turns negative as you get older or face an illness. Living with a chronic illness changes your world. Everything starts to look different.
But what if you chose to look at clouds with wonder again? What if you saw the glorious possibilities instead of the negative consequences?
Much of the quality of your life depends on how you choose to view it. Choice is a valuable tool, but can also be a fiendish villain.
Seeing the Worst
A friend was recently describing her experience of leaving a community. Through a series of online messages, she listed all the negative things people said to her and how awful they made her feel.
As I read through her messages, I couldn’t help but notice that nearly all the expressions people sent to her were positive. People said they’d miss her, wished her success, and wanted to keep in touch.
For whatever reason, she was translating each message into something negative. She looked for the worst, and she found it. In abundance. The reality she created made her miserable, but she didn’t have to be.
Living with bipolar disorder means we often translate perfectly fine statements into hurtful messages. Our mental illness tells us people don’t like us, want us gone, or have a poor opinion of us. Usually, those messages are false, but it’s how we choose to see our “clouds” in the moment.
Earn Free Premium Months
Share Speaking Bipolar’s Positivity Club and earn months of paid content. Visit the Leaderboard page to get your unique link.
Refer 1 subscriber, get 1 month comp
Refer 5 subscribers, get 3 months comp
Refer 15 subscribers, get 6 months comp
And, yes, free subscribers count!
For today, look for the wonder in the clouds and in everything else.
Put on your rose-colored glasses and challenge the clouds to reveal fun scenes again. As the clouds form above, look forward to a magnificent sunset or the splendors of rain. Choose to find the good in today.
You can’t always control your mood, but you can control how you choose to see things. Look for the good in every conversation, watch for the ways people are saying they love you.
There will be clouds, but it’s up to you to choose how you’ll view them.
Choose wisely.
Journal Prompt: Write about a negative thing that happened in your life recently. How can you view it in a positive way?
Creative Writing Prompt: Spend some time looking at clouds. What objects do you see? Write a story about their world.
Until next time, keep fighting.
Scott Ninneman
Please click on ❤️ button or leave a comment.
Additional Reading:
Support Speaking Bipolar
Here are a few ways you can help support Speaking Bipolar:
(Free) Forward this newsletter to a friend or share online
(Free) Follow me on Social Media
($) Leave a Tip, purchase from our Etsy store, or become a paid subscriber
($) Purchase from Bipolar Books or Self-Care Essentials on Amazon
(Free) Just keep reading this newsletter!
What Do You Want to See?
Are there other topics you would like to see me cover? Reply to this email or comment on any post.
Disclaimer:
This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
It's funny that you talked about cloud gazing today. Where I am, it is a gloomy day with occasional rain. Cloud gazing used to be a fun thing for me, many years ago, and I sometimes catch myself, sometimes, thinking "Oh, that cloud looks like..." I get it, though - in my late forties it's a little harder to see the "silver lining". Just before I read your post today I was on Facebook and came across a post where the author had taken a picture of a voluptuous cloud near them and asked readers to share what they saw. There were various answers from something grand like a polar bear to something as small as a fox. It did look like a fox to me and this act reminded me of the times when I would lay in my own yard admiring the changing shapes of the clouds. I do believe in synchronicity and this gentle reminder today to enjoy even the small ones was just what I needed while going through my own mental health struggle. Thank you, Scott, and I won't forget this.