Here in the pacific northwest we have a chain of stores called Fred Meyer. (We call it Freddies 
around this leg of the forest.) Freddie's advertising slogan is: What's on your list today?
Northwesterners catch the phrase every time they see a huge Freddie's truck on the freeway. With most people it probably causes a thought of 'what do I need at the store today.' However for me, it serves as a wake-up call to ask me what "list" of thoughts am I focusing on right now.
In other words it wakes me up to become consciously aware of the quality of my thought at that moment. If you think about it, you can ascribe a value to a list of thoughts running in your mind at any given moment. So imagine you and a co-worker you carpool with are in traffic on your way home from work and you're driving in the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lane when a guy driving alone slips in front of you, illegally enjoying a faster ride home, and you start a list of thoughts that goes something like this:
'You jerk! No you're a hog jerk. No you're a thief stealing illegal space in the HOV lane while, I, on the other hand have to share my car with this person I really don't like that much so I can be in the HOV lane LEGALLY!, while you pay no attention to the law. And this person I have to be with every day always leaves junk in my car, she's always whining and complaining, and she NEVER says "Thank you," when I drop her off at her house which is out of the way by 10 minutes and she never pays me for that extra ten minutes, oh there's a Fred Meyer truck.' BUSTED! The thoughts that were on your list were all negative and you never feel as good as you could if your list is positive.
You don't need to live where Fred Meyer trucks can remind you to wake up and see what's on your list of thoughts at the moment, you could think up a different alarm. Actually when you aren't feeling perky, loving, happy and satisfied the feeling of not feeling that way can be your Fred Meyer truck.
Back to the scenario on the freeway going home work AFTER you've been busted: you have the power to change how you're thinking and turn the drive into pure joy. At the first flash of anger you could hi-jack the anger and start a new list of thoughts. It could go something like this: 'You jerk! OOps! You remind me of that time I drove in the HOV lane to get to the hospital because Carl got hurt at work. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones and I know you're in this lane because you need to be. I bless you as you tend to your life and you make me thankful Carl and I are well. I'm glad I'm sharing drive-time with Susan. Whenever we talk about the shows we watch on television, we have so much fun! I wonder if she saw the episode of "The Big Bang Theory" when Sheldon made friends with the blue jay? I love birds! It'd be fun to make friends with a wild bird, have it come and land on my finger whenever I called it.'
The point is, we have total control of what we think and what we think changes our emotions and our emotions change our experiences. On a recent trip to Boston, Terry and I both got center seats and it's hard to find someone who'll trade with you when all you have to offer is a center seat. So I ended up in the middle between a young kid and an old lady about my age. The old lady slept most of the six-hour flight, but the kid in the window seat turned out to be a man that looked very young. We ended up talking and laughing all the way to Boston. We made each other laugh and both of us were shocked when we were told to put up our tray tables and return our seat backs to the upright position. What could have been a very long, uncomfortable flight turned out to fly by. PTP
When we practice changing the list of thoughts from negative to positive what we discover is life just gets better and better as our happiness level raises.
Have a Fred Meyer truck day!
Pam
P.S. Here's another blog I wrote about being happy, just click on 
the happy daisies.
Also my Audio CD sets are almost gone and when they are I won't be producing more. This is the perfect time to get the Audio CDs for The Mouth Trap and the Good Book. While they last, when you order the Audio CDs you'll get the printed book too as my gift. 
