Attitude of Graditude.

Wow, I sound like a broken record when I go on and on about being filled with joy and gratitude rather than being happy. Trying to make yourself laugh is one thing, but to think you can be happy in all situations is just silly. The key to being really full of the RIGHT emotion, the one that keeps your heart from worry and your head from spinning, is to THINK about it. THINK, think, think good and precious thoughts. By allowing your mind to think about the things you most appreciate, you bring on a sense of belonging for yourself within that thought. It's a place you go when you need to. It's a place you go when you want to. It's such a private club too; no one else is allowed in. Just you. You are it. You! You! YOU! 

 I try hard every day to think about the dreams I just had. I wake up and think hard about them, sometimes I can recall pieces. It's as if my mind is shutting off the access to itself and even I am not invited back into it. This morning I remember being out on a Sunday. Why I knew it was Sunday I don' know. There were very few others out, and I was in a mall or theatre; lots of doors, things to see. I rode around on a little motor-box, it was cute really and I felt the need to explain myself to another woman who was walking with her kid next to me. I think I said my daughter made me do it. It made her laugh -- and before she departed and went into another theatre or door she said "have fun" and you know - - I did. I was just in the place riding around having fun. I can appreciate that. 

 Appreciation is the bomb! That statement just showed my age. OK -- having the right mind set is everything. You start the day out right, you're able to work that day out with more grace toward others. I know when I'm being hurt by someone I sometimes feel like I could conjure up words to just blast them back where they came from, but then it hits me...that's not what they need. Remember the saying "Kill them with kindness"? It works. Gratitude brings harmony, it brings peace and you know what, I don't know about you, but I just don't see a lot of that peace stuff these days. So let me be the one to start it on its way back!

Take 3 minutes and just make a mental or real list of all the things around you right now that you can touch if you had to, that you appreciate. Just looking to both my sides and in front of me, without seeing the bed and comforts of sleep behind me; I could say: the computer, technology, books, chimes, food (I'm eating) and that stuffed monkey my son bought me from Alaska that's three-feet tall! I can think of other things like lotion, my cell phone, a flash light, and oh look...my glasses. You know I appreciate those. Give it a go. Find joy surrounding YOU. Bring back peace to yourself in the process.

Joy! Find it!

When someone asks me if I'm happy, or how I'm feeling, I sometimes answer "I don't know if I'm happy, but I am joyful". I don't want to sound overly religious when I say that, I'm not trying to convert anyone, but JOY is so much more beneficial than happiness. Happiness depends on your emotional state. If you're not upbeat or gitty about something than being HAPPY is just not going to happen. HOWEVER, you can be joyful in most situations even the ones that seem desparate or sad.

JOY isn't giggles and rainbows. Joy is the understanding that it will be fine,it will work out, it will be honored, it will have a final good ending. JOY is knowing that no matter what you are still worth something to yourself and/or to someone else, and certainly (here is the conversion part) you are worth something to God. He wouldn't have made you if you didn't have some sort of purpose, be it big or small. JOY is the goal for all of my achievements. I can't begin to say that too often, because it is true. Without joy there is no hope; without hope there is no reason. We all have some desire, put joy in gear and if you don't have it, look for it.

I watched a show the other night where a boy about aged 4 told his mom over and over that he couldn't do something. "I can't do it" he said..and not surprisingly the mom sad up straight, crossed her legs and said "I know, let's blow 'can't' away and it can never come back!" Then she asked him if he was ready -- he was, and they both drew up all of the breaths they could hold and pushed out all the air and along with it, the CAN'T that had been inside...all of it. Can't is not welcome. It just isn't. It was fun to watch, and fun to do a little later on when a negative thought hit me. I was in the store, and yeah, maybe I looked like an idiot for a second, but I drew up my breath and blew out all the can't. IT LEFT ME...and I laughed. JOY.

So yes, be daring enough to make your neighbor wonder just a second or two if you haven't lost all your marbles. For no reason, and for every reason, find JOY in the things you overlook every day. You'll be so surprised, or maybe you won't be, how great you feel afterwards. Besides, happiness lets go sooner too. Joy hangs around.