This morning I have had what I’ll call a “wonderful opportunity” to practice mindset work. I did not sleep well, was up all night coughing, and slept in instead of working out. That means my kids were awake before me, which is the kiss of death for getting out of the door on time. Left the house about 10 minutes late, but brought the dog along for school drop off because that always cheers all of us up if we are rushed and/or crabby and “we” were all of the above.

About halfway there, we are stopped at a light on a busy, traffic-filled street, all singing along to Candy Paint by Post Malone when suddenly our Wonderdog Pippi sees a squirrel in someone's yard. Before I could even react, in one swift motion, she was out the window!

Luckily she didn’t run back out into the busy street.

Luckily there was a driveway I could pull into.

Luckily she responded to my son calling her and came right back.

Luckily I let her back in the car!!!!!!

When I returned home to get to work, I checked to see if my newly installed ice maker was working yet. Not yet, it seemed. About 15 minutes later, it did make 4 cubes of ice, and also a flood on the kitchen floor. Picture 10+ beach towels of water in the kitchen, and rain coming down in the basement from said water in the kitchen above.

Luckily I was home to find the leak.

Luckily my brother answered my panicked “where do I turn off the water to my house” phone call.

Luckily the plumber who installed it is on the way now.

Luckily a water leak is supposed to mean money is coming. (Mom, unless you made this up to make us feel better?).

So what I’ve got now is a perfect opportunity to practice what I preach. Let’s remember the basic tenants of the thought model.

Circumstances are beyond my control. Such as squirrels, having a cough, water leaking. Circumstances are always neutral. They only have meaning (good, bad or otherwise) when we attaching meaning to them with a thought.

Thoughts are sentences in our head that our brain suggests. A thought example here would be “That dog is going to be the death of me” or “This is the worst day” or “What else could go wrong?” A thought example could also be “Crazy morning, glad that’s behind me” or “I’m glad the plumber is on the way to solve this so I don’t have to worry about it” or even “I can handle everything that is happening even if I don’t enjoy it” or maybe even “wow I should maybe enter my dog in a jumping contest, she’s really good”??

The key is to choose a thought that feels true. I’m going to do with “Crazy morning, glad that’s behind me” because it acknowledges that it wasn’t easy but also that it’s over and I can move on. Which is key because our thoughts drive our feelings.

Feelings are what is created in our bodies based on the thoughts we believe. If I believe “this is the worst day” I feel overwhelmed, frustrated and unproductive. If I believe “Crazy morning, glad that’s behind me” I sort of laugh to myself, and I feel back on track, productive. Feelings are important because they drive our actions.

Actions are what we do or don’t do based on our feelings. If I feel back on track, calm and productive I’m likely to write a blog post about my experience instead of being overwhelmed and annoyed and doing nothing!

This thought model works all the time, for any situation. So if you find yourself having a “dog jumped out the window” kind of morning, check thoughts and rescue your day.

And, the dog jumped out the window . . .