Showing gratitude and giving thanks this time of year seems to be a common practice for many of us. With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it is the season to give thanks for the blessings in our life. I know that despite the many challenges I have had over the last year, I still have many things to be grateful for. Yes, the list of challenges has become lengthy but the list of reasons to be thankful still continues to be bigger, and always will.
Giving thanks to the people around us is an attitude. It is a way in which we choose to act and a way we choose to treat others. I say choice because I believe it is just that: our choice. I choose to be thankful that my kids are healthy and I have a warm, dry home for them to sleep in at night. I also choose to be thankful for having some really great friends in my life that I can laugh with, pray with and lean on when I need to. Although I do not necessarily welcome the struggles, I am thankful for them because without them, I would not be the person I am today, for it is those struggles that have molded me, stretched me and pushed me into who I am today. Yes, I am thankful for many things that I have been so fortunate to be a part of and experience in this life.
Something else that being thankful does, is that it has a reciprocating law attached to it which seems to always come back around. When we show gratitude towards someone, we are rewarded by the releasing of positive energy that will come back to us, sometimes in a way of blessed friendships and sometimes in a way of more peace and love in our own life. I have also seen situations where people are genuinely appreciated and thanked for what they do, which makes them far more likely to help or be involved in a project that makes a difference in people’s lives. Releasing the attitude of gratitude is a win/win for everyone and if you can embrace it, you will quickly understand why it is some folks who seem to be grateful all the time are often some of the happiest people you know.
Yes, it is the season to be thankful for what we have. But why not adopt this attitude and be grateful all year? The worst you can get from it is that you start to feel better because you will be lifting someone else up. There is something magical in an attitude of gratitude. I have seen it at work all around me and the difference it has made in my own life over the years. In many areas of the ancient scriptures, gratitude and giving thanks is thoroughly discussed.
Take today and tomorrow and make a list of everything you are grateful and thankful for. Even if you are going through the most difficult time of your life right now and are facing serious challenges, by making a list, looking at what you have in your life and reading the list out loud, I bet you can still find many more reasons for giving thanks than what your struggles add up to.
To you and your family, have a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Friday, November 12, 2010
Finish those things that you start
I have always found it interesting that there always seem to be a certain amount of small things in our lives that tend to weigh us down. You know, things like un-returned phone calls or that garden rake you borrowed from the neighbor, or that five dollars you owe your brother. They’re just little things really, but it always seems to be that the pile of those little things ends up turning into a lot of things. That’s when they weigh us down and take away from us rather than give to us.
Too many times, unfinished business just seems to happen. We have good intentions, we even start to take action on these intentions but for whatever reason, we just fall short. I know many times over the years I have had more than my share of these little things in my life and boy did they ever pull on me. Any of you ever experience this? Oddly enough, these unsettled dealings would always pop up in my mind and remind me that they were there at the most inconvenient times. Like at three am when I would get up to let the dog out or while I am on the phone with a client, this or that little thing would rise up to the surface and remind me of what I had either forgotten or just plain put off. All of this did one thing to me which eventually made me stand up and say, no more! It stole peace from my life.
Every time we have something to do and we put it off or forget about it, that task will stay with us. It rarely leaves us until we have completed that which we set out to do. Oh sure we can tell ourselves we will do it tomorrow or even next week on our way into town. We all have great intentions of doing just that, but if we are truthful with ourselves how many times do we just forget and not follow through? Probably more times than we care to admit. The bigger problem is, all of these unfinished tasks (regardless of how small) take our energy. Yes, it takes energy to continue to hold onto these things. Granted, maybe not very much but when you have eight or ten of these going on at the same time, it can be very noticeable.
Not too long ago I was at a client’s house and they were telling me about all of the projects they had started but never finished. They were just small things, from what I saw it maybe would have only taken them fifteen minutes to complete, yet they had dozens of them in progress. It had been this way for months as best as I could tell. When I asked them why they had not finished any of them, the response was: “oh we will one of these days.” Sadly enough, many people go through life like this and believe it or not, it does have a negative affect on us. I know this first-hand because I was one of those people.
When we complete a project or a task, emotionally, it gives us strength. We prove to our self that what we set out to do, we actually did. Not only that, we saw it through all the way to the very end. This can be a great confidence and self esteem builder. Having a father who rarely finished what he started, I had to break the cycle after I grew up and left home to live my own life. It was not easy and at times it felt like I would never be able to change. Eventually I did and once I broke the cycle I had such a freedom and release come over me that I wondered why I had not done it sooner. It was almost like I was given a huge boost of power or energy I had never known prior. Yes, finishing projects, no matter how big or small, aids each one of us in giving us more peace.
In your life, what do you need to finish? What is that you have been telling yourself for months you are going to do but still haven’t done? Do you need to take the dishpan back to the neighbor’s? Do you need to return the power tool to your in-laws? Maybe the ten dollars you borrowed from a friend has been on your mind for weeks or even months and has been bugging you. Make the decision today to settle these things at once. Be done with them and get them off your “to do” list. Plan it so that ALL of these unfinished tasks will be wrapped up in one day and then watch how much peace, confidence and energy flow into your life.
Like I did, you will be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.
Have a great Friday everyone, be blessed.
Too many times, unfinished business just seems to happen. We have good intentions, we even start to take action on these intentions but for whatever reason, we just fall short. I know many times over the years I have had more than my share of these little things in my life and boy did they ever pull on me. Any of you ever experience this? Oddly enough, these unsettled dealings would always pop up in my mind and remind me that they were there at the most inconvenient times. Like at three am when I would get up to let the dog out or while I am on the phone with a client, this or that little thing would rise up to the surface and remind me of what I had either forgotten or just plain put off. All of this did one thing to me which eventually made me stand up and say, no more! It stole peace from my life.
Every time we have something to do and we put it off or forget about it, that task will stay with us. It rarely leaves us until we have completed that which we set out to do. Oh sure we can tell ourselves we will do it tomorrow or even next week on our way into town. We all have great intentions of doing just that, but if we are truthful with ourselves how many times do we just forget and not follow through? Probably more times than we care to admit. The bigger problem is, all of these unfinished tasks (regardless of how small) take our energy. Yes, it takes energy to continue to hold onto these things. Granted, maybe not very much but when you have eight or ten of these going on at the same time, it can be very noticeable.
Not too long ago I was at a client’s house and they were telling me about all of the projects they had started but never finished. They were just small things, from what I saw it maybe would have only taken them fifteen minutes to complete, yet they had dozens of them in progress. It had been this way for months as best as I could tell. When I asked them why they had not finished any of them, the response was: “oh we will one of these days.” Sadly enough, many people go through life like this and believe it or not, it does have a negative affect on us. I know this first-hand because I was one of those people.
When we complete a project or a task, emotionally, it gives us strength. We prove to our self that what we set out to do, we actually did. Not only that, we saw it through all the way to the very end. This can be a great confidence and self esteem builder. Having a father who rarely finished what he started, I had to break the cycle after I grew up and left home to live my own life. It was not easy and at times it felt like I would never be able to change. Eventually I did and once I broke the cycle I had such a freedom and release come over me that I wondered why I had not done it sooner. It was almost like I was given a huge boost of power or energy I had never known prior. Yes, finishing projects, no matter how big or small, aids each one of us in giving us more peace.
In your life, what do you need to finish? What is that you have been telling yourself for months you are going to do but still haven’t done? Do you need to take the dishpan back to the neighbor’s? Do you need to return the power tool to your in-laws? Maybe the ten dollars you borrowed from a friend has been on your mind for weeks or even months and has been bugging you. Make the decision today to settle these things at once. Be done with them and get them off your “to do” list. Plan it so that ALL of these unfinished tasks will be wrapped up in one day and then watch how much peace, confidence and energy flow into your life.
Like I did, you will be wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.
Have a great Friday everyone, be blessed.
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