Three solid months of continually even, mellow, convivial daily interaction.  No disagreement, no harsh words, no surprises, no moods, no fires to be tended to.  Only loving attention, fun adventures, animated conversation – light and deep, giggly and profound – and a seeming unending bank of mutual interests and curiosities. When I think that sounds too good to be true, I remind myself that’s what I attract by staying centered. By knowing what’s important in my life – peace of mind and joy – and focusing only on that.

I spent the last 2 years with a friend who had intense opinions and an abrupt swing of emotions. The daily fires to be attended to drained me and there was a 90 day cycle of mood swings.  I let my work/sleep schedules be interrupted as we worked toward his goal.  When we parted ways, there were a few months of harassment from a third party who had taken on his cause.  I initially responded emotionally, but I soon learned to ignore the chaos of others and it will soon leave your life. When I’m in command of my own thoughts and connected to guidance, I cannot be coerced into someone else’s world. It was only when I remembered to stop responding and giving it attention that it died down. Within days.

I remembered what I tell everyone else: when an unproductive or unwanted thought arises, the way to gain control over your thoughts is to not follow the thought.  Choose to replace the thought – in that instance of think it – with another thought, a happy pleasant thought or memory of something you would like to experience in the future.  Have another thought ready, choose some happy thoughts and write them down for yourself. Keep them nearby if you are going through a stressful time and need some replacement thoughts. This is how you develop willpower and discipline your mind.

Some things I turned my attention to were putting in a vegetable garden, rearranging furniture, updating a rental property  and hanging in nature.  My replacement thoughts were about those projects, and what I looked forward to doing next on them.

In June I did a daily tarot card on this blog, and on June 12 my card was The Fool, telling me a fresh start was right around the corner.  Yay, I love fresh starts and was ready for one. In my quest for replacing aggravating thoughts with happy, hopeful ones, I’d been contemplating the good points and positive aspects of a previous partner. A big plus was that he lived on my block and could be playful, insightful and fun (The Fool.) I took it as a sign (okay, I take everything as a sign.)  I laughed when the next day I ran into a friend I did not realize lives literally right around the corner.  We fell into an easy daily contact which is very fun and fully embodies The Fool card. The easy flow is also a testament to my successfully doing what it takes to change my vibration to attract an improved experience.

By doing what it takes, I mean by me using mental discipline, by employing willpower to replace unproductive and unwanted thoughts long enough to attract a happy and fun situation. Is it easy? Not always.  Sometimes you look as you pass the highway accident and an image stays in your mind for awhile.  The image will stay until you see – or remember – or purposely visualize – enough other things that cause good and happy emotion within you that it replaces the memory of any disturbing scenes.  For this reason, it makes sense to have replacement thoughts on hand, so you can change your thoughts at a moment’s notice.

It’s fun what I attract when I keep myself centered and focused on “happy.”  It’s fun to look back and say, “I did that. I set my mind to it and I did it.” All it took was knowing what makes me happy, then doing that while having the mental discipline to focus on my replacement thoughts.  For me? It also takes me remembering I have the power to do it, and when I remember, oh what the Universe rewards me with.