Make your choice

“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend… when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present — love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure — the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth.” –Sarah Ban Breathnach

This quote is very important to my life. There are days when it should probably be tattooed on my forehead. The important thing for me is that second sentence- "it is our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend..." Everyone has those days; when you are tired, when you are sore, when you just wake up on the wrong side of the bed. I am by no means an exception. When I am feeling cranky it is very hard for me to bring myself around to that gratitude place. It is only when I stop and make the decision to find something-anything- to give thanks for that I can flip that switch and change my attitude. The nice thing is that you can do it at any time. You can even, if you have to (and I have), do it many times in a day. There are times when it takes me finding a lot of little things to be thankful for in order to stay in that place all day. It's not easy but it is possible.

This is a lesson that was hard learned for me and I still don't have it completely under my belt. It is very easy to take something small that doesn't go the way you wanted and let it just decimate your day. If you think about it-it's a snowball effect. You get out of bed and stub your toe and that puts you in a mood. Then you can't find the clothes you want to wear. This makes you later leaving than you should be- which puts you in traffic and makes you late for work. You get the point- and that's just the first couple of hours! So why can't we take that SAME snowball and turn it into an avalanche of blessings? The answer is that we can. At first you really may have to work at it but as you make it a regular thing it becomes easier.

I don't know about you but for me when I am having a bad day it seems that the "bad" keeps piling up automatically. If we recondition our thinking; we can make the switch so that our blessings do the same. So which choice will you make today? Will you make it a good day or will you let what happens, happen?

“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. Start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful.” — Marelisa Fábrega