My life is not perfect, but my blessings are many.
That’s a very true statement, but what if I had only said, “My life is not perfect.” What feeling do you have when you read that? That I walk around with a “woe is me” attitude? I wouldn’t blame you.
It’s true… my life is not perfect. My life is a mess! I have days when I’m unhappy. My hair doesn’t always want to behave itself. I struggle with depression. The house needs a repair. I forget my much needed doctor’s appointment. I lose sleep. The kids get sick, the dog gets sick, I get sick. The list is endless.
But my statement is this… “My life is not perfect, but my blessings are many.”
If we feed ourselves negative thoughts every day -even worse, every minute of every day- we are doomed for a life of ill health.
Of course I’m going to have sick days and of course they’re going to align with days that are jam-packed with to-dos. Life inevitably gets stressful and difficult to handle. Stress and disarray are most certainly negatives, but they don’t have to create in us a negative person.
“Things may not always go our way, but we can choose how we see our world and make it a better place because of who we choose to be.” Shawn Achor
Shawn is so right! Positive thought is a choice. It’s not just something you master at birth. It takes skill to learn. Stressful, demanding and overall negative environments can cause us to have negative attitudes. But, there’s always hope, because we have the power to change our environment.
Let’s say for instance you spend a great deal of time with a complainer. You might listen to their complaints so often that you too complain constantly and you hate that about yourself. You can choose to change your life just like someone chooses to lose weight or learns how to run a 5K or tries Ziplining.
Our attitude is not set in stone. We must choose.
What do I do to remind myself of my many blessings? I take time each day to write down 3 new things I am grateful for that day. Then I sit quietly for just a couple of minutes and meditate on those things. These two actions, over time, have caused me to think more positive thoughts during the day. Honestly. I have seen a huge change!
These two actions, make me think before taking on too much responsibility. These two actions, remind me that I don’t have to push through my day at full speed and that I can actually take my time if I want to. These two simple positive habits have changed a multitude of things in my life.
Every choice we make during the day is just that, a CHOICE. We choose to slow-down or choose to rush. We choose to be grateful and happy or choose to complain and be sad. We choose to appreciate the life we live or choose to hate the life we live. We take on more and create tremendous stress or we don’t take on more and choose peace.
Gratitude will help us choose if we choose gratitude!
Research shows us that people who express gratitude on a regular basis are happier, healthier people. It’s also a known fact that stress tears down every organ in the human body including our skin and is related to 80% of all doctor’s visits. The World Health Organization found stress to be the #1 killer.
You CAN change into a more positive person and therefore a healthier and happier person. I know you can because I have and if I can, you can! Taking 1 minute each morning to write down 3 things you are grateful for can become something you look forward to when you wake up each day. It just takes #smallsteps, not huge leaps. Go easy on yourself, set a 21 day goal to write down 3 grateful statements daily. You CAN do this and together we can become stronger, happier and healthier.
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