***Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! When I first realized I was awake this morning, I smiled and then I remembered it was Monday. I had a great weekend and would have been happier if today would have been Sunday all over again. And then I laughed, for what makes Monday any different from Sunday or Friday for that matter, but my thoughts about it? A day is a day and nothing more. It’s the labels and expectations that my thoughts place on the day that make it different from any other day. The hopes, the fears, the expectations all come from within me!

Think about it this way. What makes your birthday, or Thanksgiving any different from any other day? They are both very special days because we set the intention for them to be so. Our thoughts create the story of how wonderful this day or that day will be. Yet the only thing that is different between one day and another, between “good” days and “bad” days are our thoughts and expectations about the day, not the day itself. It still takes the same time for the Earth to travel around the sun and for the moon to travel around the Earth. You’ll still have the same 24 hours in each day to enjoy or use any way you choose.

We get the choice of taking this beautiful picture called a day, and putting it into a frame to enjoy. We can gently place it in an ornately decorated, beautifully handcrafted frame or just slap some popsicle sticks on all four sides and consider it done. We can just prop up the picture in our mind without any support and allow the edges to curl up, unprotected, like a well-worn photograph. The cool thing is this- we get to choose how we frame the picture of each and every day in each and every moment. We get to choose how we view the picture by how we frame it- with our thoughts. The picture doesn’t change any more than the day does. Monday is the same as Friday. Sunday is the same as Thursday. The only thing that changes is our thoughts.

On this beautiful Monday morning, let’s embrace today as a new beginning and instead of lamenting that the weekend is over; celebrate the new week that is just beginning. Create the frame to fit the picture of your life that you wish to create. Decorate your frame with thoughts, dreams and all the good things that you want to bring into your life and then gently, reverently, place the day inside of your own personalized frame.

The only thing we really have is this very moment and the thoughts in you mind right now. The moment that you’re reading this, the moment that you’re breathing the very breath that you are breathing, right here, right now- that’s it. And now it’s already gone, and another gift, another moment is here, just like today will pass and another day will be here tomorrow. Instead of being just a participant and watching from the sidelines, be the artist and decorate your frame right now. Consciously choose what thoughts you want to surround this very day.

Choose to start this new week with a very Happy Monday and create a great, productive and fulfilling week. Accept this week as the present that it is. Unwrap it slowly and savor the gift of the 24 hours you’ve been given on this very special Monday. No matter what thoughts you decide to fill it with, or what frame you choose to put around this beautiful gift of time, make it a good one that brings you joy. Enjoy the week!