Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you. Knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. Brian Tracy
Is the good life within reach of all of us? The Super Bowl was played last night, and on display were many people we are sure are living the good life. Lives of extraordinary wealth and advantage were on display. Wouldn’t we love to be a fly on a wall in some of the homes of the rich and famous and find out what it’s really like? We’ve gotten more information than we ever wanted about some famous families, and how many of us think we’d like to exchange our lives for theirs?
Would it surprise us to know everyone has problems or surprise us if some families don’t have problems? Living the good life is not about never having problems, never facing adversity, or never having problems become public. Living the good life, in my mind, is dealing with what is ahead of us and what is behind us. Jim Rohn tells us not to ask for easy but to ask to be better. Better able to withstand the storms of life and know what we must do and to do it.
Jordan Peterson tells us to be the strongest person at our parent’s funeral and this means if we are lucky enough to have siblings we will each have someone to lean on. Having faith to lean on gets many through the hard parts of life and many find faith in the hardest parts of life.
Finding meaning in a rapidly changing world, disintegrating families, and social upheaval is to grab onto what is good and true and carve out a little space for ourselves and those we love. Inside our little space, we build our little world and although we venture out to the wider world we need to keep our little space wholly our own, and though we treasure our family and friends, they are not ours to keep forever, and whether they are with us for a long time or a short time we need to treasure what we had and go on without them.
Start each day with a positive thought and a grateful heart. Roy T. Bennett
Only those who can go forward after loss can lead a good life because we will always have to go forward after loss until the end of our lives. There is always loss, loss of a dream, loss of a loved one, loss of things the way they were, the way we were comfortable with them. Change is the only constant and the better we are at riding the roller coaster of life the better our lives will be.
When we listen to other people’s stories, what they’ve overcome, and what dangers they’ve faced, we are sometimes in awe of what we hear. What gets some to the end of their life facing hardships without becoming bitter, and others who didn’t appear to face such hardships become warped and bitter and difficult to be around?
Can we afford to be bitter and hard to be around when we are old and dependent on others? A pleasant personality in old age would help a great deal in dealing with that difficult time of life. An attitude of gratitude if we cultivate it early will we still have it in the end? I think it’s possible, I’ve seen it in others, and it makes me hope I can cultivate it in myself. Does gratitude sweeten even the smallest moments and lead to a life of joy?
Cultivate an attitude of gratitude, of giving and forgiving. Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty. Doris Day
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. William Arthur Ward
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
