The other day when I had planned to do some things outdoors, I noticed that it was raining as had been predicted. I checked the weather report and I heard that it was suppose to continue all day. As I was hoping that it would at least slow down to a drizzle, I looked through the blinds to find out that it had stopped completely. I immediately found myself saying “Thank you” as I continued with my plans. Then I started musing about that “Thank you”.“I find that the more that I got into the habit of saying “Thank you” out loud or in my thoughts, I realized that the gratitude I felt would make me feel so happy.
“Barbara Jacoby
I realized that it was directed to God and that somewhere along the line I had gotten into the habit of thanking God for all of the wonderful things that have come my way. In fact, in my daily prayers I find that I thank Him for everything that he has done for me (and Kirk, and family, etc.), for everything that He is doing and for everything that he will do.
I don’t remember exactly when I started doing that. I know that someone had told me to do it and at the time it felt right, so, I did it. And as I thought about it today, I remember that over the years, whenever something wonderful came my way, I felt such a high level of elation as I thanked Him for so many things. I realized that I had also slipped into it in my daily life on just about every level. For example, if someone cut me off while driving, I thanked Him for keeping me from getting into an accident. That helped me because I was using my energy in that manner rather than getting pissed off at the driver who cut me off. Or when I got some wonderful news about something, my thoughts went immediately to that ever present “Thank you”. Often I actually feel like I am jumping up and down on the inside and I just can’t stop smiling.
Now as I reflect on it, I find that the more that I got into the habit of saying “Thank you” out loud or in my thoughts, I realized that the gratitude I felt would make me feel so happy. Heck, I was so grateful for so many things in my life that it seemed like I was pretty much happy all of the time. When I get bad news, I still am quite capable of getting upset and feeling sorry for myself and I do allow myself to let that out. But rather than staying in that mindset for any period of time, I find that I start to focus on all of the reasons as to why this “bad” news may not be so bad.
I find that this exercise of positive thinking works best when whatever is occurring is happening to me. I am the one who can create the reasons why a particular situation is something for which I am grateful and I am the one who can translate that gratitude into something positive that, in turn, is something that will make me create happiness for myself. For that I am extremely grateful!
Barbara Jacoby is an award winning blogger that has contributed her writings to multiple online publications that have touched readers worldwide.