The Self Improvement Blog

How do You Paint the Sunshine When it’s Raining Outside?

This question was posed to me a few days ago. It was one of those rare rainy days in Phoenix and my grandson was at the easel painting. I didn’t give an answer at the time but the question has been bouncing around in my head.

You can interpret this question literally or figuratively.

How can I paint the sunshine when I can’t see it? Literally. Hmmm. Perhaps you can remember it and paint from memory. Perhaps you get a picture and use it as a guideline. Perhaps you paint how the sunshine makes you feel and you paint in warm, bright colors. Pretend you’re a great artist like Monet or Picasso and let yourself paint your impression of sunshine. You could possible paint the sun trying to peek through the clouds making the rain glisten. It’s your choice. You are the artist. There is no right way or wrong way.

How can I paint the sunshine when it’s raining or how can I feel “up” when everything seems to be crashing down around me? Now and then, as the commercial says, “Life comes at you fast” and sometimes the results are not nice. It happens to us all. Things have been going smoothly and then you suddenly become quite ill, someone smashes into your car, your spouse asks for a divorce when you thought things were going well, you lose your job or a thousand other things. Yes, I know this sounds negative and sounds like I’m borrowing trouble but things do happen unexpectedly  and there’s nothing we can do to change the outcome  at that moment.

So what do you do when life happens?

Take care of the situation the best you can in the immediate crisis time. Call a close friend or relative whom you trust for wise council and bounce it off them and take the best action you can. Remember the principle that we make the best decision we can make with the awareness we have at that moment. Do the best you can.

To get back “up” there are some things that can help:

1. Remember times when the sun was shining. Remember it in you mind and feel it in your body. For example literally remember one of those perfect days that have now and then  the sun is shinning and we can feel the gentle warmth of it on our skin and the slight breeze feels like a warm caress. Birds are singing and the many different shades of green seem to sparkle. See it, feel it. Experience it every way you can. Remember the good times and the way they made you feel. Let yourself visit as many of them as you can together with all the positive emotions that are attached.
2. Make lists of everything you still have to be grateful for. So they crashed your car but you were not hurt. How grateful are you for that? There was a fire but no one was injured. You have your health, your children, your job, your good mind, etc. Make a list and savor each item.
3. Visualize what you want your life to look like as you emerge from this set back. Again, do it in you mind and in your emotions. What will if feel like when all the bills from this incident are paid and the bill collectors quit calling you? What will if feel like when you get your car back and it’s just like new again? What will it feel like when there’s a new love-of-your-life? Think it, see it, feel it, taste it if you can. Get all the senses involved and act as if you already have it.
4. Find someone or something that makes you laugh. Laughter is the best medicine and clears your mind so you can make better decisions. Laugh!
5. Learn the lessons the situation had to teach you and move on. This is self-improvement at its best.

How do you paint the sunshine when it’s raining outside? The best you can.

It may be your most beautiful creation of all.