Blessings in Poopy Diapers

Have you ever had one of those days when you looked at the mess around you and felt that you were that mess? A friend recently shared her learning experience with me and this is what I got from it.

She was feeling like a mess and could not seem to see herself as separate from the mess around her. Her coach brilliantly brought her to the space where she could see her daughter as a baby. Here is this lovely, angelic child with a poopy, messy diaper. Instantly, she could see that her daughter was not the mess that was in the diaper. As a matter of fact, that mess in the diaper was beautiful, because it meant her daughter was healthy. Seeing her daughter as separate from the mess allowed her to make that distinction for herself as well, and allowed tremendous healing to take place instantly. In knowing her daughter was not the mess, she knew she was not the mess either.

As she was relating the story to me, I was looking at the mess in my own house. Suddenly, I got my own flash of brilliance. The mess in my house is not me! I am not the mess in my house! The mess is part of a normal, natural, healthy process of my growth.

As I sort through the items that were part of my history, I stack up things to be sold, given away and discarded. Some piles go to recycling, some to charity, some to eBay. Some wonderful reminders will be lovingly packed for another day; others will be hung on the walls or placed around my house until they no longer serve me. In the meantime, it looks like a mess! Just like the inside of that dirty diaper, how I deal with it is entirely dependent on my attitude about it.

I must confess that I was not one of those moms who celebrate every bowel movement. My attitude was that changing diapers was a dreadful necessity, and I got it over with as efficiently as possible. How much more fun it would have been to rejoice over each memorial to my son’s good health and have fun changing his diapers!

Attitude, like thought, is strictly a product of the individual. We each get to choose our own attitudes and thoughts. No one else can make that choice for us. I am the only one who can choose my thoughts & attitudes, just as you are the only one who can choose yours. For today, I choose a playful attitude that sees the positive attributes in my circumstances.

How much more fun my life will be as I view each mess as a tribute to my growth and play through what would have been work.

What healthy messes will you be playing through today?

Copyright © 2009 Joanna Hackley Davis, CLC, Intuitive Life Coach