Staying positive, choosing a good attitude, and being the person we were created to be.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare

Do we have faith we can deal with the challenges ahead of us? No one knows what is ahead, but we all know it will be different than it is now. We see the changes coming and many of them we don’t like, but what if changes weren’t coming? Would life be better? Better for whom?

In the game of life, there are winners and losers and no one minds being on the winning side, but when we think we might not be on the winning side, we’d like to see no more change.

My parents lived through a lot of change, some good, some not so good, but they rode the roller coaster of life to the end. My parents lived through one world war, and my grandparents lived through two. We will live through the changes coming, some we may fear but never face, some we don’t worry about but they will hit us.

Is faith what will get us through? Faith in ourselves, our countries, our fellow citizens, and our governments, and what helps most of all in my opinion is faith in a higher power. We often don’t know what the ignition point of a powder keg will be, and we feel a powder keg building up with inflation, immigration, the rich getting richer, wars, and rumors of wars.

Is it possible to live in a precarious world with faith to deal with what comes? Hasn’t it always been a precarious world? What can we do in our own lives to make our lives less precarious? Being part of a strong family is a safe harbor in times of trouble. If we are resilient and able to see what is still possible and make the best of what is, life will be better than if we feel we are victims of circumstances.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. Johann Wolfgang

Victimhood does not build a good life, what is the difference between facing hard challenges and feeling like a victim? When we face hard challenges do we have to find the courage to deal with what is, and when we feel we are victims, do we not take advantage of what we can do to make our lives better?

We are told we always have a choice, sometimes the only choice is our attitude, sometimes our choice is between two goods, and sometimes we have to choose the best of the bad. Sometimes our choices are for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Is what we stand up for, rail against, and support, for the greatest good? Do we even know what the greatest good would be? We always come up against the unexpected consequences of our decisions. Sometimes we get good consequences from bad policies and bad outcomes from what we thought would be good policies.

Policies are in place and many were made with the best of intentions. When we see those policies not working, do our governments have the strength to turn things around? Will there be unexpected consequences for every change we try to make?

We might think we know the obvious direction we need to go in. But we don’t know, we can’t know what the unintended consequences of our best intentions are. For instance, won’t it be great when everyone is driving an electric car, and we don’t have gas emissions anymore, but we need the infrastructure to support the electric grid, with all the challenges that entails?

We’ve often heard to be careful what we wish for, and one of the things we’ve all wished for was to be richer, but we didn’t know when we got here, we wouldn’t feel any richer, because life is harder than ever affording our rich lifestyle.

What changes do we hope for, and can we think of unexpected consequences if we get it?

Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Choose to stay positive and be the strong person that God created you to be! Unknown

No one else can choose your attitude for you. Your perspective and choice of attitude gives you the power to be in control. Irene Dunlap

Choose the positive. You have choices, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. Bruce lee

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.