I will be the first to admit that I had a
not so good mindset today. I have had something that’s been eating at me for a
week now and I’ve allowed it to consume my thoughts (and in effect, my mood,
too). It has put me in a cranky mood, made me a bit snippy towards those who
did not deserve snippiness, and made me really unappreciative of things that
would have otherwise made me smile. I do not like it. Through this whole Think
Thankfully journey, I’ve learned that whatever you think about throughout the
day, will affect your whole personality and mood.
If you spend your day thinking about the
negative things around you and things you can complain about, you will develop
a pessimistic personality. It will pull you down, and it will eventually start
to take over, pushing the positive and thankful attitude further and further
from your heart and mind.
Think Thankfully is a powerful way to turn
around your way of thinking or looking at situations. Take the proverbial cup,
for instance. You look at the cup and someone asks, “Is it half full or half
empty?” At that moment the question is asked, the answer becomes dependant on
your perspective. Of course, the thankful/gratitude perspective will always
allow a person to see what is good or even great about their situation, rather
than to fall into despair or apathy, restlessly wishing life were different.
They are the ones who see the cup as half full.
Being thankful means thankfulness,
counting your blessings, noticing simple pleasures, and acknowledging
everything that you receive. It means being aware, on a continuous basis, of
how much you’ve been given (and trust me, when you start really keeping track
of what you are thankful for, you quickly realize just HOW MUCH you’ve been
given!). Gratitude shifts your focus from what your life lacks to the abundance
that is already present.
When things don’t go your way, remember
that every difficult situation has within it, a positive…..something that, in
fact, is better than you could have expected or imagined! In the face of
hardship and negativity, ask yourself: “What’s good about this?”, “What can I
learn from this?”, and “How can I benefit from this?” This truly does work when
trying to follow the Think Thankfully philosophy. Rather than dwell on the
negative, try to dig deep and see what the positive spin is. It’s there. You
just have to be willing to search a little for it. You will be glad you did!
Once you condition yourself to look for
things to be thankful for, you will find that you begin to appreciate simple
pleasures and things that you previously took for granted. I’ve seen this
happen with my friends on the great book of Faces, who have started to post
daily thankful posts. Sometimes, they find pretty intense things in their day
to be thankful for, while other times I smile because it is a simple little
thing. They have started to appreciate more of the simple pleasures and are
able to see that there truly is something good in every single day! Gratitude
should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time
gratitude, the kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly
look for the good even in unpleasant situations.
Until tomorrow, my friends….start bringing
gratitude to your experiences, instead of simply waiting for something good to
happen in order to feel grateful! Dig deep and……
……THINK THANKFULLY!!!
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