Bad, Bad Week

Ever have one of those weeks? You get in a fight with your husband, your kid is sick, you have to deal with a bureaucratic bank… Oh wait, that was my week. 

Even the most simple life is going to have troubles. That comes with being alive. So how do we deal without falling apart? Personally I just wanted to crawl into bed and stay there, but that wasn’t an option.

Instead I talked with a couple of friends and we made ourselves laugh at everything. I wrote in my journal. I took a drive, singing loudly to carols that were on the radio.

One of the worst aspects of bad weeks, is the tendency for worry to contaminate all your thoughts. I just read about a technique in the book Quiet Mind. Start by focusing on your breathing. Thoughts can still sneak in if you only concentrate on your breath so the rest of the technique includes focusing on the way your belly moves when you breathe and to the sounds you hear. The more senses you get involved, the less thoughts mess with the present moment. The more you practice the easier it gets – and I practiced it plenty this week.

I also got out the gratitude journal to remind myself of how great my life really is.

The fight is over, but I still have to take my son to the doctor today and call the bank again. Along with other annoyances. But, really maybe this week wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.