The Attitude of Gratitude
Back in September, I had the opportunity to go out to Utah to help my sister move. If you have ever moved then you know there are lots of moving (pun not intended but good nonetheless) parts. Lots of things need to be done in order for other things to be done. It is a process and can be frustrating and overwhelming.
There we were, a band of misfit toys…sorry, Valene, RaNae, Kirk (some of my siblings), and I. I am the youngest of 7 and I ain’t no spring chicken..just sayin’. Anyway, as we were packing and doing things, there were things that were going wrong. Some major things and some not-so-major things, but when you are in the midst of moving if one cog isn’t working then that has a tendency to slow everything else down.
But what I noticed is that when I focused on what was going wrong, then everything else seemed to be going wrong and it was affecting my whole entire being. It also affected how I was relating to my siblings. Nothing was going right!
However, when I focused on gratitude (sometimes it was definitely difficult to see anything to be grateful for in the moment) then things just seemed to run smoother and our band of misfits toys got lots more things done.
Instead of focusing on how are we going to get everything done, I found out who could come and help. When we found a plumbing issue, yes, there was lots of swearing on my part, but I was grateful when some plumbers came out in 2 hours to fix it. When the UHaul overheated on the way to Idaho, (insert more swearing), I was grateful we were in a more populated area and that a mechanic came out within an hour.
You see, there were lots of things that went wrong during this move, but focusing on the bad things only made things worse. Focusing on what I was grateful for, well I believe it made things a little easier.
MY CHALLENGE TO YOU: November always seems to be the month that we think about being thankful. But I challenge you to be thankful every day, for even the small things throughout the whole year. Especially when things seem insurmountable and just going wrong, try to look at what you can be grateful for. Please find something every day to be thankful for and see how your outlook on everything will also change!