On a More Positive Note

Today in class we had a great lesson by the Relief Society President on Gratitude. It was noted that the first step in changing your thinking patterns toward being positive is to have a grateful heart. Instead of looking at your life and seeing what you don't have (or in other words the cup is half empty), you need to look and see all the things and blessings that you do have (the cup is half full). There were wonderful stories shared both personal ones and ones from previous talks. And I was thinking about how easy it is to find the bad or wrong things that are around. After all that was my job while I was working at NASA; to look for the holes in someones theory/plan, or find the mistakes (if any) in a document. I was always looking for the things that could go wrong and fixing them.

Unfortunately my work ending up affecting the rest of my relationships as well and I found myself pointing out the things my dear husband did wrong, or the bad habits he has. I seldom said I was grateful for much of anything. We had our "discussions" about this but change was difficult. Perhaps in one way, this is break I've been able to have from working was an answer to his prayers. Being able to stay home this past year and a half I've been able to slow down my pace a bit; stop and smell the roses as they say. I've been able to shift my focus from trying to find the wrong, to finding the good. I'm still not 100% but I'm definitely getting better than I was, and I do feel I'm a happier person for it.

Our relief society pres gave us an assignment to list out 5 things a day that we are grateful for. We are to record these things in a small flip book that she handed out to everyone and we'll see if after some time we are not a happier people. I urge you to have a go at this assignment too!