Life is Where You Look

There's another quote I love from Jane Green's amazing new novel, Summer Secrets, featuring an alcoholic heroine (see Instant Bonding).

The hero says "Life is where you look, right?....I mean look for the bad, you'll find more of the bad, look for the good, you'll find more of the good."

I've been turning this over and over in my head for a while.

I'm sure that if we spend much of our lives staring into the bottom of a glass rather than looking around us, our worlds become smaller and smaller.

If we fill our bodies constantly with poisons, our lives become more and more toxic.

If drink is crucial to our social lives, we end up surrounded solely by other drunks.

The more we stress out and feel anxious the more stress and anxiety we attract.

In effect, the world is what we make it.

When you get sober, you look up from the glass and find that your world has broader horizons.

As your body gets less toxic, you see beauty and clarity around you.

As you go out sober, you attract more sober (or less drunk) friends.

As you ditch the constant anxiety, your life becomes calmer and less problematic.

It really does depend where you look....

.....and how you look.

I went to a fabulous gathering of old friends recently. Wonderful P was the catalyst, as she was visiting from the US.

I was nervous, but feeling better (and more generally attractive) than I had in years, so I was ready for it. And P would have never forgiven me if I'd bailed.

Despite being a picnic in the rain (how classically English is that?) I had a ball.

Then one of the gang published a photo of us on Facebook. I wasn't looking at the camera, and looked utterly miserable.

I realised - horror of horrors -  that I have a grumpy resting face. Yikes!

Since then I have been trying to train my mouth to turn up, even when I'm just 'resting'. And, when I'm walking down the street I make an effort to smile at people.

Sometimes they think I'm a total nutter, but generally people smile back. Genuinely smile.

And after just a few days of doing conscious SMILING, I'm feeling great. I feel like I'm surrounded by happiness.

I'm spreading the love.

So remember, life is where, and how, you look.

SM x