Looking for the "Good"

For the next couple of weeks I am supposed to be actively seeking out the "Good" in my world. Two weeks of relaxing, looking at positive, funny, inspiring, books, television, and movies. Two weeks of self-indulgence in activities that give me pleasure, of spending at least an hour every day doing something just for fun--about now my hard working friends are all sighing and wishing their doctors would give them this order. It sounds like a prescription for a vacation.

What it really asks is that I change habits and thought patterns of a lifetime.

As a counterpoint to this experiment I am also asked to avoid angry, violent, negative, sad, depressing thoughts. I am to not watch the news, put down the murder mysteries, not look at crime programing...you get the idea. Death, crime, murder, violence etc. are banished. I close my eyes, snap my fingers, and poof, its gone. Right?

Okay, nobody, not even my thrity-something doctor thinks I'll magically make the bad stuff vanish. She does think that the cycle of nightmares, sleepless nights, and panic attacks can be broken. Her "I think you can" attitude seems young and naive to me. But all the doctors are looking young these days.

As for reading positive stuff, I would much rather have a good mystery. Feel-good writing is not my thing. I have never read a "Chicken Soup" book. I've always assumed that I would gag on the syrup in them. Perhaps I would, but I will give a couple weeks of anything a try if there is a chance it will get me back to writing again. This morning I read through Virginia Satir's "My Declaration of Self-Esteem" without gagging. I still want my "Chicken Soup" in a bowl, and still have doubts about feel good medicine being the right prescription for me.