Best Trust the Happy Moments

Our reading this week, the chapter called "Love's Ripples," includes the closing lines of a poem entitled "Biography" by the English poet John Masefield.

Best trust the happy moments.  What they gave
Makes man less fearful of a certain grave,
And gives his work compassion and new eyes.
The days that make us happy make us wise.

At some point in my still young life, I learned not to trust without question my emotions.  For example, if I were in a dark mood, I had a tendency to interpret everything in a negative way.  At some sane point, i.e., some point when I wasn't in the clutches of the decidedly negative, I explained to myself that the underlying feeling that gave rise to the negative interpretations was nothing other than neurochemicals.   I would do best not to pay too much attention to their view of things.  After awhile, I told myself, they would dissipate as long as I didn't act on them or encourage them..

I set up a trigger to remind myself, and the next time I noticed myself spiralling into repetitive negativity, I stepped back.  Sure enough, my mind continued along its negative course.  I let it.  Like a balloon full of air sputtering through the air, I didn't give the thoughts any more of my attention.  The feelings persisted, pushing their hoary head into my thoughts for awhile, but each time, I simply ignored the feelings. 

It worked.  For me, the effectiveness of the experiment was the proof.

"Best trust the happy moments."  I've been experimenting with this one, too.