Cheer Up! 5 Ways to Conquer Disappointment on Valentine’s Day and Every day.

I had a lucid dream last night about how to get over disappointment. You know like when you don’t have a Valentine. Or when your child cuts you out of their life. Or you feel unheard, suffer an injustice, disease or disability.  Maybe someone you love dies way too early and leaves you totally unprepared for the void. They aren’t easy, but there are tacit ways to handle disappointment. I wish I could vividly remember the entire mystical dreamscape journey, but essentially what came to me is this…

 You have to meet the world where it is.  With one disappointment at a time, scan this list of 5 things and you will recover more quickly from the hurt that haunts you. 

 1.  Get Clear Headed first.  Can you honestly view your situation objectively? Is your head and body clear of drugs, alcohol, nicotine, excess fat and sugar and days spent in a dark room? Yes?  Good!  If not, you know what to do.

 2.  Don’t take it personally. Really get this…You cannot have good without the bad.  They are opposite sides of the same coin. When it rains, the farmer is happy and the golfer is sad. Everyone who lives must die.  If all things were the color blue, there would be no color at all.  Are you living your best, authentic life?  Good.  Then that’s all you can do.

 3.  Practice Gratitude. Literally seek out the good side to every coin.  This is the corollary to #2 and where the hard work happens.  This is why gratitude journals, jars and rocks, and the like are all soooo popular. Gratitude is the magical elixir to getting over disappointment.  It’s impossible to be disappointed when you are giving thanks.  Try it. 

 4.  Believe.  We can’t possibly know the big picture that God has for us. My sister poetically reminded me of the vastness of all that IS.  Basically there are more observable stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the earth.  Imagine that??!!  And 1.3 million earths can fit into the sun which is 1 star. One grain of sand!  That should blow your mind.   The next time you look up at night and go to the beach, I hope you get chills.  Believe that you are a part of something spectacularly awesome and in that big scheme of things, all is well. 

 5.  Forgive. Everyone is just playing the cards they have been dealt. My husband, the chef, just told me about a group of visiting high-schoolers.  He observed that the affluent kids had a lot of food allergies and were very educated about celiac, peanuts other allergens.  The inner city kids could eat everything, and were largely ignorant to all these conditions.  So depending on your background, giving someone a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could be considered extremely insensitive, if not a crime! Interesting, huh?  Stop the blame game. We’re all just doing the best we can with what we know. 

I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling better already.  This stuff takes practice, so let’s get to it.  If you don’t have a Valentine, take advantage of treating yourself to whatever you’ve been wanting.  Print this off, put it in your Gratitude Journal and Share it with someone you love.  And remember, the Universe is VAST beyond comprehension.  It takes a little time, but your blessings are on their way. 

Go meet the world where it is with all its ups and downs, and Cheer Up!

UGottaEat…so eat mindfully.

Feeding your mind, body & spirit.