I'm Thankful...... Being thankful really is the key.

It's been a few months now since I've written. I didn't want to keep posting the same ol' thing over and over again as I have in the past. That's the thing about ruts though, huh. Sometimes it feels like ramming your head on a brick wall over and over again. 

The past few months have been different though. The way I look at life is different. Almost as if by some form of magic, I feel as if my luck has changed. What it all really comes down to is I started being thankful for everything I have.

You know, it's funny. I've heard this concept in various forms all my life, but for whatever reason, the magnitude of it's importance has always alluded me. Let me just tell you that it is monumental! Being thankful for what you have simply helps focus on the positive. Being thankful equals being positive.


BEING THANKFUL = BEING POSITIVE


We all heard the clichés about positive thinking, like Stuar Smally saying, "I'm good enough and I smart enough and dog gone it, people like me!" Sure! Say it a million times! If your outlook on life comes from a place of self loathing or self pity, good luck to ya!

I'm sure you've heard the studies of how it's found that so called third world countries have higher rates of "happiness" than so called first world countries. It's simple. They're happy to be able to get up in the morning. Actually this reminds me of this comedian, Louis CK. A friend of mine on FB posted a YouTube clip of this guy. (Thanks L.M.!) Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk&sns=fb Go watch it and come back if you want.

Every morning now, I meditate and I review everything that I'm thankful for. One thing that I've noticed is that eventually, I even started to be thankful for events in my life that the time of their occurrence, I shook my fists in the air, dropped to my knees in the pouring rain, and screamed "WHY?!!!" (well... not really but you know what I mean)  I started to really see just how one thing ending started something new.  Something better.

I know it can be hard to be thankful when all you want to do is feel sorry for yourself. And you know what; everybody is entitled to a good feeling-sorry-for-myself episode now and again. It's human.  But when its time to get back on the horse and climb out of that rut, the first thing a person will need to do is re-adjust his/her attitude. We do that by counting our blessings.

“Counting our blessings,” yet another cliché. Fine then, take it a step further. Imagine life without all the people that ever meant anything to you; Life without the support of that best friend; Life without the love of the people who raised you. Life without the wisdom you've attained from the mistakes that you've made; Life without your favorite song or book or mentor or favorite experience. Imagine life without all the little joys.
 
Listen. It’s easy to take things for granted. We live in a capitalistic, consumerist society that teaches us to want what we don’t have and forsake what we do have. It’s no wonder the US lost it’s edge. (that’s a whole other blog!) If we continue to take things for granted and continue to see our gifts indifferently, we will simply let assets go utilized until those gifts are made useless through neglect or even worse, assets just pick up and leave to go where they are better utilized. In other words: you couldn’t see what you had, so you couldn’t use it before you lost it.


One last thing. Taking the time to be thankful helps you keep you keep your priorities in check. It will help you make decisions that are in line with who you really are. If you are thankful for your health, then you might make better decisions when it comes to diet and exercise. If you’re thankful for that roof over your head, you might think twice about going on a shopping spree that might jeopardize your rent or mortgage payment. Get it?

Anyways… I’m too tired to think of a nice closing statement, but thank you all for reading.