Happy Monday, and welcome to all the new readers to the blog.

Hope everyone’s week is off to a great start.

FYI, around here on Mondays, anything goes. Sometimes the post will include writing news and updates. Other times, it’s a free-for-all, and the topic can be something serious or something just for fun.

I like fun. Quirky. Odd. Optical illusions. Puns and plays on words and things that make you think.

The image below has been around forever, but it’s interesting how people seeing it for the first time will react.

Which did you see first just now? The faces or the vase?

What’s even more interesting with the illusion above is that, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, the next time you glance at it, the opposite image may jump out at you.

Look at a more complex picture, and you might see something different every time.

It depends upon your perspective. Your mindset. How you’re feeling and what you’re thinking at the moment.

Research says we can control our thoughts and emotions and our lives by the way we talk to ourselves. Want to be happier? Think positive thoughts. Prefer to wallow in gloom and doom? Don’t expect to have a good day.

Of course, life’s a very complicated picture. We may have problems that can’t be wished away by changing our thoughts about them. But some of the little things…the long line for our morning coffee, the last-minute change of plans, the mental beating we give ourselves over something that’s over and done… The negativity over some of those things can be wished away. By making a simple choice.

We have the power to look at a situation and decide how we’re going to let it affect us. It’s all in our perspective.

Is this glass half-empty or half-full?

The answer is, it can be whichever you want!

I challenge you to try this:  just once today, if you find yourself in the middle of a negative thought or emotion, stop, take a breath, and look at it from a different perspective.  See if it makes a difference.

Have you done this before?  Did it work?

If you haven’t tried it, think it’s worth a shot?

All my best,

Barbara