Generally my morning routine gets my day off to a good start.  By good, I mean off on a positive footing with an affirmative perspective of the day ahead.

But there are mornings when just after I fold the newspaper closed on the comics, a feeling of gloom descends over me and a strong impulse to return to the comforting warmth of my recently vacated bed overwhelms me almost to tears.

Until recently when ever these dark feelings would visit my attitude was to soldier on and I’d give myself the marching orders of; just do it!  Breath and move on, on to the next task.  While not very sensitive or particularly consoling or comforting, moving on to the next task was effective.

But one recent Sunday morning when I experienced an attack of melancholy while going about my morning routine, this has been a regular occurrence around the kitchen sink, some weird association maybe, I’m not really sure, any how, a sudden onset of sadness gripped me.  In the past I’ve just told myself to keep moving.  Advice from the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” when Tom Hanks character answers the radio talk show hosts question, “how are you dealing with your wife’s death?”  He answered, “I keep breathing in and out and putting one foot in front of the other.”  So I’ve been telling myself to keep going, move onto the next task.  But this Sunday I had a realization about why it works!

Feelings are the outcome of a chosen thought.  It’s the thought that generates the feeling.   I wasn’t consciously aware of the actual thought but the feeling of sadness is a big clue that the thought couldn’t have been very supportive or affirming.

Change the thoughts, change the feeling.  It was a good start to “keep moving” but better to consciously choose to focus my thoughts on something else.

“Keep moving” is effectively moving meditation, as it shifted my thoughts to focus on what I was doing, drawing my attention and focus to the task, with the results being a change in the way I was feeling.

The feeling changed because of the change in my focus.  That change in focus is what pulled me out of melancholy.

Awareness is the opportunity to choose differently.  Now when the feeling of sadness descends, I remember this lesson learned and taking a page out of my own book, use moving mediation to bring myself into the present and integrate; mind, body and spirit, restoring sanity to live the way we’re meant to live, happily.

Bottom line:  Change your thinking and you’ll change the way you feel!