I’ve been in Portland for just over a week now, and I’m feeling totally energized by the move. I drove down from Seattle last week with a car filled to the brim (I can just barely still fit all my belongings into one car-load), landed at my new house, met my new roommates, and have spent the week getting settled. It’s wonderful. New places to explore, people to meet, so many (SO MANY) coffee shops to try. The thing is, I know moving can be pretty stressful. There are a lot of unknowns, a feeling of being uprooted, a lot of actual work of moving things around, getting new stuff, etc, etc. So, potential pitfalls.

But these things don’t have to come true. Or better yet, even if they do come true, they don’t have to affect us in a negative way. This is the point: we create our own reality. Once we have our basic needs met (in addition to the obvious food/shelter/etc, I would add “brain chemical regulation” via exercise and  adequate vitamin D), the world is our proverbial oyster. We get what we give, reap what we sow, enter your favorite cliche here. But the thing is, it’s all true. When you smile, people smile at you. When you frown, people look away. When you give things away, people give things to you. When you trust people, people trust you. Virtuous cycles abound, the Law of Attraction.

Clearly, it isn’t always easy to be positive. Shitty things happen. Some stuff is really hard to deal with. But we can always take deep breaths, and the more we practice positivity, the more it slips into our lives when we aren’t expecting it. Our brains are hugely adaptable, and the things we practice and think about become our realities. Neurons that fire together wire together. The more we do something, the more it permeates our conscious and unconscious minds. If we’re deliberate about firing our positive-thinking neurons, that will become our norm. On the other hand, we can just as easily (maybe more easily) fire our “I’m bored” or “this sucks” neurons, which will manifest that reality. There’s a kind of sick pleasure in wallowing in negativity, but having been on both sides, I’d say we’re better off aiming for the positive. The important part is that this is our choice. We can’t control what happens to us, but we can decide how to react, or at least keep training ourselves to react more positively.

What kind of life do you want to live? What do you want your state of mind to be? You’re the only who can make it happen, and now is a great time to start.