My "Instant Happy" Happiness Tool

"I'm so mad I could just spit!"

What an odd expression of anger. I can't tell you how many times I heard my Grannie say that. I never thought of it much when I was a kid but it really is kind of silly, isn't it?

One of the last times I caught my grandmother saying that I told her to stop showing off. You see, I have a disease called Sjogren's Syndrome. One of the hallmark symptoms of Sjogren's is extreme dry mouth due to my auto immune system destroying my saliva glands.

She shrugged her shoulders and raised her hands as if to say, "Well, you got me kid."

The truth is that if we could just spit out our anger it would be so good for us. Holding on to angry thoughts not only is very taxing on our body but it just sucks any hope of happiness being part of our day.

I try, try and try again to remain in the present moment and not get my mind all caught up with the clutter that a bad day can attract. Angry thoughts are like the junk that clogs up the Roombas of our minds. Our minds can only suck up so much while under duress and angry. Negative stuff just binds up all the rollers. At some point you have to stop and clean out the tray, wash off the filter and untangle  those rollers.

I love a piece of artwork that Karen Salmansohn has included in her new book Instant Happy. She has drawn a picture of a woman who's head is spewing with clutter as if she's Medusa. Karen describes that ANGRY THOUGHTS MAKE YOUR MIND MESSY! 

It's as if she was sitting across the table from me with ink to paper drawing me on one of my "bad" days. She had caught me on one of my own "I'm so mad I could spit" days. It's in black and white so without the green eyes I can't be for sure but it's pretty darn close!

For years I have grown to understand the power that positive affirmations and thoughts have on our well being and happiness. Until seeing the artwork in Instant Happy I didn't see that if you don't let go of the bitter stuff there will be no room for the good stuff.

I had been under the illusion that I could just drown out the negative- flushing away the bad. Sometimes we might need a total reboot to ensure that we are starting off fresh.

Start off with a clear head and you can see the beauty in this idea also created by Karen Salmansohn at notsalmon.com  - 

To learn more about Sjogren's Syndrome: http://www.sjogrens.org/home/about-sjogrens-syndrome