Questions and Answers

Today I am grateful for the soothing sound of water in fountains and for strength exercises to help my joints. I also appreciated more fun time with our grandson Leo yesterday.

As a recovering alcoholic, you will hear me talk about (or read here) about my mind being my enemy some of the time, and my thinking being as much my problem as any drinking ever was.

Part of that overthinking and overanalyzing has to do with spinning and swirling questions around. Why? Why did this happen? Why didn't this happen? Why?

"Why?" ends up being a very lonely question much of the time, especially with life's toughest questions. If I keep looking for an answer, an explanation, to figure it out, I continue to isolate myself from the real solution-which is often to simply stop asking why and start moving forward doing the next right thing.

Right actions like being kind and gentle with others and myself. Forgiving myself and others for being our human and emotion-laden selves. Think of the positives in this day, in even the most difficult of circumstances. Think of others...because it gets me out of my head and typically puts my troubles in the right perspective, or a healthier one at least.

My thinking can either magnify the good or not-so-good. Where do I want to put my focus?
This is the significance of practicing gratitude. It helps me find the good, some peace, more readily.

Life's toughest questions don't have quick and easy answers. We may also never get our "Why?" answered.  Yet, if we keep living, keep working, keep trying to master this one day at a time thing,  over time we begin to understand perhaps why that tough question came along in the first place. We see what we have learned, how we have grown. That is what matters. Patience required.

And when it comes to tough questions, my grandson Leo again provided some direction and smiles. We were playing some ball in the backyard yesterday, and he said "Throw it high please!" I asked "How high?" He pointed straight up to the sky and said "This high!"

Today is full of possibilities, as expansive as the sky.

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