Tag: Beliefs

Want to Feel Lucky? Do This.

- Alexis Leave a comment
White blooms on a tree that the lucky author happened to see on a recent walk

Here’s a weird thing you probably don’t know about me: I always win things. Little things, I mean, like contests and giveaways. If I’m attending an event and they’re giving away door prizes, I’d say there’s about an 85% chance that I’ll be walking away with a door prize. It’s kind of uncanny. I’m lucky. I don’t know if it’s intuition or manifestation or what, but on numerous occasions, I have been certain that my name or number was about to be called as a winner seconds before the words were actually spoken.

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You Don’t Know What Someone Else Thinks Unless They Tell You

- Alexis Leave a comment

Painting of two people sitting at the edge of a pool

I’m convinced that a significant amount of the stress in my life comes from assuming I know what other people are thinking.  Case in point: after being away on vacation, my yard was a mess this week.  The grass was overgrown and there were weeds everywhere.  It finally got mowed Saturday afternoon, but every time I saw it this week, I felt anxious and guilty.  I feel this way every time the yard becomes overgrown, and it has nothing to do with the grass.  If I lived on some remote parcel of land far from any other houses, I wouldn’t give it a second thought.  I care because I don’t want my neighbors to think poorly of me.  I assume that they are judging me every time they drive by my house or look out their windows.

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Understanding Our Beliefs and Forgiving Ourselves So We Can Move Forward Less Burdened

- Alexis Leave a comment

Pink sky at dusk with silhouetted trees

Maya Angelou gave a slightly different version of her famous quote in reference to her own past: “I did then what I knew how to do. Now that I know better, I do better.” This sentiment is key to forgiving ourselves for our mistakes. We are all works in progress.

I used to tell myself that I had no regrets in life because every experience was a lesson. While that’s a nice thought in the abstract, there are of course things I wish I had done differently, words I’d love to take back, and decisions I would revisit if I could. When I look at my life today, I see how my present circumstances are largely the consequence of past choices and unquestioned beliefs. I like my life, and I’m generally happy, but I’m also aware of missed opportunities. While I hope I still have a number of years left on this earth, the possibilities for my life don’t seem quite as endless as they once did. I sometimes wonder what my life would look like if I had studied a different major, lived abroad, moved to a big city after college, pursued a different career path, chosen a different law school, not gotten married right after college, or made better financial decisions.

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