A fresh look can prompt a fresh outlook

( This post is one of my favorites from my archives. I hope you like it.)

I posted once about how a fresh coat of paint can really brighten our mood, not just our walls.  Well, my friend whose kitchen I helped paint was putting everything back together. I had previously told her to fill in the nail holes so she would be forced to think with fresh eyes when it came to adding accessories, etc. I went over there today to help her with the final touches.

I had to practically twist her arm to get her to think with fresh eyes.  Getting her to remove the dark rug under her table was a major feat. Her kitchen, which is quite small, looks so much bigger and bright without one’s eye going to that dark rug that drew the room in too much.  Then I had to strong-arm her a little more to convince her to remove those outdated chair pads. But I convinced her. I cleared off her table and had her stand back and look at what those little changes had accomplished.  She was shocked and very pleased at the difference.

We need “fresh” eyes about so many things. About our homes. About our circumstances. About our views surrounding various issues. About our personal style. We might very well end up coming full circle in some areas. For example, we may decide that our views surrounding various issues are exactly what we have always believed and we are content with those views. And that’s a great place to get to.

I like knowing my beliefs have stood my scrutiny and evaluation. They are my beliefs and I own them because I’ve thought about them.

But based on the people I know and my personal experience, it doesn’t happen as often as you’d think. Many people have the views they have, not based on sound thinking, but because various ideas and people have invaded their thinking and influenced them without their conscious awareness. They offer their opinions and views and don’t even hear the words coming out of their mouths. Oops, I’m digressing. We’ll save this discussion for later.

Back to my friend’s kitchen.

I guess the point I’m trying to make is that when we are redecorating, we need to give our freshly painted walls an opportunity to stay “nekked” for a while. We need to look at accessories and paintings in other rooms and see if we can use them in our newly decorated space. It’s my belief that adopting a different perspective about something as visual as our living spaces can carry over to the not-so-transparent issues of life-the ones that really matter. It’s kind of like a shot in the arm-a catalyst for changes in other areas.

It works especially for depression. Changing the living spaces that we look at every day somehow subtly short circuits that part of our brain that has gotten used to our familiar, though static, environment. It ever so gently reminds us that our moods are more in our control that we thought. That maybe we can change something here as well. We feel just a little empowered.

Action in one area almost always prompts action in another area.

Remember this commercial saying?  “The body in motion stays in motion.  The body at rest stays at rest”? (Something like that.) This message is absolutely right-on even if it is a commercial.

If you try this concept, you will intuitively feel the truth of it.

We can become too comfortable with too many things.

Sometimes we don’t realize just how comfortable we’ve come with some things that are harmful to us. We get so used to our life, our habits, our attitudes, we don’t even see the possibility of change.

Depression is much like this. Depressed people often get so comfortable with their depression that they don’t want to get better. They’ve become comfortable in their depression. It has become their habit. And, yes, depression can be a habit, just like having a bad temper.

God bless and have a good day.