Acting As If

There is this one conductor on the train into New York on my morning commute who always seems to get me in the right frame of mind for the day.  Usually by the time I hit the train Monday morning I'm already psyched out trying to brace myself for the challenges of the work week to come.  Without fail as soon as we roll into Penn Station this conductor is wishing us all a safe and pleasant day and even reminding us to chug water on these New York City summer scorchers. Every time I hear his cheerful announcements it never fails to trigger a mental switch which helps me get the day started with a positive attitude and a sunny disposition.  "You know what, he's right! It IS going to be a great day!" 

There is a Jewish idea that what you believe you perceive or your thoughts create your reality. There is a well known story about a man who was constantly in a bad mood and always had a frown plastered on his face.  He was extremely unpleasant and no one in his town wanted to be around him as he projected his negativity out wherever he went.  One of the rabbi's in the town told him to wear this mask with a smiling face on it for the next 30 days and by the end of that time they would remove it and see if his attitude had changed at all.  Wouldn't you know that by the end of the 30 day test period when they removed the mask this man had a permanently plastered smile across his face. After living under the pretense of being a happy person he began to believe himself what he was trying to make others believe about him. 

I try to keep this idea in mind whenever I begin to feel my thoughts get the better of me and try to push me down the rabbit hole.  Acting "as if" can not only change your outlook and what you're projecting out but what you're creating for yourself as well.  Some days it's as simple as locking onto a pleasant wish from a train conductor and building off of that.