The Things of the Night

The Things of the Night

During the night, in those quiet hours when most of the world is sleeping, you lie awake and things of the night become distorted and amplified. The faucet that drips drips drips drops during the day goes unnoticed – but in the quiet of the night, it can become a disturbing, even sinister, sound.

The floor that creaks during the day – those creaks you never hear – is amplified at night. You may lie awake, hear that creaking, and wonder if someone has broken into your home – are you in danger? Your heart races and your mind explores a hundred possibilities. But only one possibility is the truth. The rest are distortions, illusions, specters of the mind – The Things of the Night.

We can choose the attitude we will embrace for the day. Or we can let other people, events, and things of the night dictate what our attitude will be. We can make mountains of molehills and molehills of mountains. Our thoughts can heal us and our thoughts can make us ill. Our thoughts can motivate us to do great things or evil things. Our minds can choose to believe in God or not. Our minds can see beauty in everything or see ugliness in the most beautiful things. We can think ourselves into misery. We can think ourselves into happiness.

We are in control of what we think.

We can control our thoughts and our attitudes. We can base our thoughts on the things of the night or base them on the truth made clear by the light.

All of us have problems and each one of us can deal with our problems if we examine them in the light of day. We should never allow our minds to create problems that are things of the night: ghosts, specters, and illusions – all things that are untrue and that can live only in the dark.

Like the faucet that drips in the night or the floor that creaks in the quiet hours – we can make our problems so great that we can never overcome them. Examining things in the dark, quiet hours, can amplify and distort our problems into specters not based in reality. Once we’ve allowed an illusion to become reality it will affect our life, our health, and our attitudes.

All of us, allow distortions to influence our lives. We imagine all kinds of things that are not real – things that exist only in the night. These illusions can alter the way we face the world and ruin our attitudes. Our thoughts can make us sick and our thoughts can make us well. Our attitudes can make or break our days.

It’s hard to believe that anyone sets out to have a bad day, yet many allow the things of the night, events, and the opinions of others to control them and the attitudes they embrace. It’s a simple and indisputable fact that we can all control our attitudes and not allow our attitudes to control us.

We choose the attitude we will embrace for the day.

The mind is complex and powerful. Our minds can conjure up thoughts that can make us miserable, sick, or inconsolable. If we allow our thoughts to be based on distortions, illusions, specters, and ghosts – things of the night, then we’re living that distortion.

If you have a problem, examine it in the light of the day. Do not drag it out in the middle of the night and let the quiet hours amplify it and make it worse. Do not dwell on what troubles you instead dwell on what makes you happy.

We must all be careful not to let the things of the night form the basis of our thoughts. If we do our lives can become miserable and our attitudes change. Our attitudes reflect our inner thoughts and fears and our attitudes determine how we feel about ourselves and others. Everything looks different in the light of the day. You can see things as they are and not as they appear in the dark. For in those dark and quiet hours, even the most innocent sound can seem like a monstrous, evil shriek from a demon.

You can choose to be miserable or you can choose to be happy. You can, indeed, choose the attitude you will embrace the day. You have control over your attitude. If you choose to let others dictate your attitude or choose to let the things of the night dictate your attitude only you will suffer.

The Serenity Prayer sums it up:

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. …” (Reinhold Niebuhr)

Don’t let distortions or illusions or things of the night define your problems. Examine your beliefs and your problems in the bright light of the day. Your problems will not seem as great and you will see things as they really are.

You’ll realize that the things of the night are not real, they are mere specters – ghosts and shadows of the truth. You’ll feel better and others will like you better because the attitude you embrace will be the attitude you choose to embrace.

Don’t let your attitude or outlook on life or your attitude be based on the things of the night.