that beautiful, irksome button in my mind

 Things just keep getting better and better, I'm so freakin' excited! 

No?

Why not? Wait, wait, don't tell me. I honestly want to listen... I just know my mind listens, and while that's wonderful, it's also sort of, well, irksome.

That's the thing about your mind, too. It listens and it loves you to pieces and little bitty bits. Your mind wants you safe. Your mind keeps you doing what's familiar, which is really safe, even if it's meh to you or even hurts. That's why it's pretty darned difficult to break out of a habitual, tough situation. 

Sometimes it works. You may even find *gratitude* in those times -- that's fabulous! When you feel gratitude, relish that positive feeling. 

At other times, the body gets tired, angsty, and impatient. I tend to wax positive, and I believe that has been a survival trait on my journey. Still, I get impatient and judgmental. Being on the sunny path and then having it sink clear away from under me, full of obstacles, doesn't cause me to feel bad about myself, perse; I'm full of compassion. 

What happens instead? I add it to a pattern of things that slow me down and waste my time.

Wasting my time. Now that's a button for me! A thing that sets off an automatic, rising feeling of frustration.

Do you have a button? The good news is that a button comes from our habitual patterns of response to things or events that we tend to see. It's part of that great relationship we have with the mind -- you know, the one that listens?

When we were little, we learned what we could eat by listening and observing. If we came across a different food, we did not eat it because it was not safe (until proven otherwise). These kinds of responses also kept us safe long ago as a species. Yet we don't need this strong of a response anymore.

So while we can't change a thing or an event, we can absolutely change our response to the thing or event. And you know what that does? 

It changes the patterns. It makes a fabulous relationship with the mind become even better. The ball is in our court and we get used to it being there and that feeds a positive response and a positive outcome. 

At last, after a change that took conscious effort, there's a START button we can believe in!