deydreaming

Living in China I have time to listen to a lot of podcasts. The most recent one that I listened to was an episode from Michael Hyatt’s, This Is Your Life, series. 
If you haven’t listened to it before I definitely recommend. It is a great podcast.  
Well, this episode that I’m talking about was about learning how to be a great follower. It was a particularly interesting episode considering that most people are teaching others how to be great leaders, not followers. Though I enjoyed the entire show there was one thing that specially resonated with the challenges that I have been facing in my life right now.
There are some aspects of Chinese culture that I’m really having a difficult time dealing with. I actually talk about all of them on an earlier post. Okay, okay, maybe I rant about them. So, since I said that I wouldn’t be a complainy pants on this blog, on the following post I talked about how being angry doesn’t solve any problems and it only hurts yourself. The thing is that I was still shining a light on the negative aspects of my experiences with China. So, on the podcast, when Michael said, “you have a choice on what you notice, you can choose to notice the bad or you can choose to notice the good and you can comment on either thing” a chill ran up my spine and I got goosebumps all over my body. I felt like the Universe was conspiring to get me to remember and internalize this lesson.  
I thought, this is exactly the lesson that I’m trying to relearn. Even a podcast is telling me to do it!
So, I decided to come up with a game. The game is simple. For every time that I notice something upsetting that happens I have to take notice of three things that are nice, pleasant, or beautiful about it. 
So far this strategy has really worked in my favor. My feelings of disgust, anger, and frustration no longer ruin my day because by playing this game they don’t last very long. 
The truth is there are many, many, things about Chinese people, about Chinese culture, that are good. 
For example, number one, the majority of Chinese people are so friendly and very eager to talk to, or help out, a foreigner. 
Two, China is actually a really safe place to live in.
Three, if you’re a foreigner your opportunities in China are abundant. 
I look forward to continuing to play this game. It is not everyday that people get an opportunity to live abroad, especially in a country that has made many notable advancements and revolutionized in such a short period of time, so I definitely must make the most of my experience here and I think this game may be the best way for me to do so.