Yesterday I was feeling distinctly  uncharitable toward the previous owner as we did the walk-through of our new home. 

I guess Ms. Previous Owner felt that since she was moving in two months she didn’t need to do anything, like mow the grass, remove her trash, or sweep up bug carcasses. 

.

All throughout the walk-through, Chris and the Realtor kept looking at me expectantly like they were waiting for something. 

I finally figured out that they were waiting for me to be happy.   Every step of the way, through every challenge, I had been ecstatic, grateful, and happy.  And here I was raining on their  parade when they wanted to celebrate.

Get angry.

We think that living peacefully means never getting angry and living in perpetual sunshine.  Yet how can we be live on purpose, authentically, if we are constantly judging and censoring everything that we do and think?  Our job is not to ignore and suppress emotions we consider negative.  By doing that, we are assuming that we are supposed to ‘be’ a certain way and we make the presumption that anger is ‘bad’. 

You shouldn’t anything.

Thinking that we ’should’ be happy all the time is just as bad as thinking we ’should’ be richer.  It was the ’should’ that helped create my unhappiness in the first place!  It wasn’t the dirty house that upset me, it was the thought that the house ’should’ be a certain way. 

Anger: Not The Problem

Anger is simply a sign that something, internally or externally, is out of whack.  Anger can be an incredible indicator, like pain.  So don’t ever ignore your anger because it might be trying to tell you something.  No one, however, wants to walk around pissed off all the time either.  That doesn’t serve anyone and worse of all - it’s an indication that you aren’t addressing whatever it is that you need to address. 

Be a love boomerang.

Living from love, completely, all of the time is definitely possible, but also something that is definitely graduate level.  The first goal is not to live in love all the time, but come back to love  all the time.  Most people are going to get ticked off or frustrated or sad.  You shouldn’t feel bad when you do, just come back to living from love.

And, luckily, that’s pretty easy.  The first and main step to bringing yourself back to a place of love is to sit in gratitude.  That’s it.

I’ll start.

Dear Ms. Previous Owner,

I am truly grateful  that you came down in your offer price and that you left the gas logs.  I am grateful that you kept your cabinets in good condition.  And, above all, I am grateful that you picked us to live in your home.

Sincerely,  Hayden Tompkins

P.S.  I would also be incredibly grateful  if you mowed the lawn before you left!