I am a big believer in "what you focus on expands" . . . so I do my best to focus on every positive thing that happens, no matter how small . . . and to relish in the joy of it. It is not always easy to do that though.
One of the things I have been battling with in recent months is all my electronics going hay-wire. Phones going out, phone batteries draining at an alarming rate, my CD player breaking, printer issues, etc. You name it, it's happened. I won't lie, it's been a bit of a struggle to keep myself from focusing on my frustrations with many of these situations, especially when something decides to stop working at the exact moment you need it to work but this weekend, I got a fun dose of "magic" that made it a lot easier to shift my focus.
When my CD player died, the carousel door would no longer open, and it just made a horrible grinding noise. I found a replacement CD player on Craigslist, which was great but it didn't solve the issue of my five favorite CD's being stuck inside the old player. Dealing with it has been on my to-do list for months and last weekend, I finally spoke to my next door neighbor who is an engineer about it. He said he would be happy to open it up for me and reunite me with my CD's and as luck would have it, he had the special tools needed to open it up.
At a predetermined time, I walked over there, CD player in hand. After greeting me at the door, he told me I could put it down on the recliner chair. I was in the process of setting it down, while also saying hello to his wife, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something . . . I looked down and noticed one of the CD's was coming out on its own. She and I were so excited and as I reached down to pull it the rest of the way out, she exclaimed "Another one is coming out!" Mind you, it was not plugged in, the carousel door was still shut tight but somehow the CD's were just coming out on their own. Once all five of them were out, we all sat down and had the biggest chuckle together. We joked that the husband was SO skilled, he didn't even need to touch the CD player in order to retrieve the CD's and we joked that maybe there were some angels and fairies that had been working "behind the scenes" to get them out.
All night long I couldn't stop smiling - I am sure there are lots of technically minded people who could offer an explanation for how the CD's freed themselves, but I was content to think that it was just pure magic! Bringing the CD player over gave me a chance to have a really nice visit with my neighbors so there was no downside to the experience. It was easy to focus on how happy I was to have access to my favorite CD's again, which is where I would prefer to put my energy.
Yesterday was another tough day energy wise . . . I experienced waves of extreme tiredness, peppered with bizarre pains that came and went and vision that was so blurry in moments that I couldn't read anything so it was a challenge to keep my thoughts focused on anything positive for very long.
Fortunately for me, Kino was here to shift my focus and lighten the mood. It occurred when we got home from the grocery store. As usual, I placed the grocery bags on the kitchen counter and then began putting everything away. While I was doing this, Kino was crying and carrying on. At first I was slightly annoyed that he was making so much noise when I was trying to concentrate and a little annoyed that I had to keep stepping over him and around him to get to the refrigerator and to the pantry.
And then finally I stopped and looked at him . . . . and I realized that all of his whiny excitement was over the fact that he thought I bought a toy for him at the store . . . his over-the-top excitement was over the toilet bowl brush I had pulled out of the shopping bag. I went from being slightly annoyed to laughing so hard I could barely hold my phone steady as I tried to get pictures of him. I wish I had video too but the pictures capture the moment well enough. 
Not only did he shift me into laughter but he also reminded me that it's ok to get excited about the little things in life . . . even if that little thing is just a new toilet bowl brush.
So what are you focusing on? If we get more of what we focus on (What we focus on expands), it's worth it to pay attention to where our focus is. Like I said, it's not always easy but when you can do it, life definitely feels more fun!!
