This morning, I found myself thinking about the fact that I seem to have been feeling uncommonly negative and morose as of late. Whereas I am definitely a *"realist,"* I'm generally not given to getting stuck in a negative thought-place very often.

Got me to asking myself the question of whether I am *really* being more negative at the moment?

Or is it all just in my imagination?

![030TulipsWritingBeliefs.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/denmarkguy/XcxSfRKz-030-Tulips-WritingBeliefs.jpg)
*Orange-red tulips — spring is here!*

## *Cycles and Synchronicities*

What I discovered — which I'd already intuited — reminded me of how life often moves in cycles. Without getting too *"woo-woo"* about it, it does feel as if there's a sort of *"Cosmic Energy"* that permeates all of existence, and it affects in different ways, at different times....

The *"Inventory"* I ended up taking revealed that in the past week:

* Our friend Nancy took her life to end a terminal illness.
* My neighbor's best friend took her life — for similar reasons — two days earlier.
* My wife's sister (they've lived within 10 minutes of each other for 30 years) is moving three states over, this week.
* We announced the closing of our retail store.
* Our friends Mark and Marie announced they are moving to Mexico.
* An acquaintance/friend who was a regular customer at our store was found dead in his car, of a drug overdose.
* A good friend has become a heroin addict and we had to stage an intervention.
* Mrs. Denmarkguy's new job as manager of a café is now in question.

Of course, these are all things that happen as part of the course of a normal life. We *all* experience stuff like this, from time to time.

What's *not* normal is that the above *all happened within a 9-day span.* That list? That's more bad news than we'd typically get in 12-18 *months,* not *nine days.*

Or *is* it?

![047MtBakerPowerball.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/denmarkguy/Y5jhNiCL-047-MtBaker-Powerball.jpg)
*Mt. Baker at dusk...*

## *Pattern Recognition and Reality*

I have always been pretty good at *"pattern recogition,"* but I didn't compile this list as a means of finding *"proof"* that life really seems to be sucking a giant weenie, at the moment. 

Whenever I *do* these little analyses, it's usually to double-check myself to make sure that (a) I am not going crazy, which is part of (b) establishing that I am not *"imagining things."*

In this case, I am definitely not *"imagining things."*

This Saturday, we will be attending *two* separate memorial services. That's also not *"imagining"* anything...

I look at stuff like this, and I actually have more empathy for those who fall into various addictions.Sometimes, things *are* really depressing... and all you can really do is breathe in and breathe out, and put one foot in front of the other.

Somehow, just *writing this out* made me feel a little better...

Thanks for reading!

***Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! You ever notice your life running in patterns? What do you think causes it? Or is it just random events? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!***

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*(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 190502 23:58 PST*
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