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Give Thanks
This Thanksgiving gather a number
of people and create a list of all the things you are grateful for,
like forks, they’re cool. Buttons and zippers are great (except
after dinner), indoor plumbing is wonderful, air conditioning in the
car, and your oven of course. But really there are so many wonderful
things that we take for granted and even complain about. Like
stamps…How dare they raise the postal rates to thirty seven cents.
Spend thirty seven cents and someone will carry your letter to
anyone anywhere in America, thousands of miles my letter gets
carried right to the house of my friend, how dare they raise the
rates like that. Every piece of knowledge in the world exists on the
internet and at the touch of a button it’s right there in front of
you for free. How do you like that? Yet we complain about slow modem
speeds. E-mail costs nothing to send and it’s instantaneous anywhere
in the world, wow, and yet somehow I manage to complain about spam
or something. Cars are great, and open up the whole world to us yet
we complain endlessly about them and gas prices.
A Polynesian Islander was
interviewed as to what gives him joy. He said the sunshine gives me
joy. Then after a moment he said, the rain gives me joy, when the
fog rolls in it gives me joy. When the sea is calm like glass it
gives me joy. Then he said, when the storms come with their
beautiful power, that gives me joy. Wow he’s got it made. So do we,
we have so much that we have become numb to our unbounded natural
wealth.
Those of use fortunate enough to
live in the mountains are really rich. Evergreen and the surrounding
areas are as close to heaven as you can get and still live in a
physical body. Deer and Elk , foxes, coyotes, black squirrels,
incredible beauty everywhere we look and yet oftentimes we miss it
because instead of seeing it we are worrying about work, politics,
or the future. So lets decide to wake up for thirty days into our
wonderful abundance. Let that gratitude list grow. Read it and add
to it every day. Get creative. Keep your list going until the end of
the year and see how many you can get. Then on December 31st
celebrate a New Year that is guaranteed to be full of all this
wonderful stuff and more, because now you will be aware of this
fantastic world we live in.
I heard a great story from a man
who was leading a personal growth seminar. He was greeting the
guests and a man in a wheelchair came up, the man was joyously happy
and said he was glad to be there and looking forward to the event.
Then another man approached who was in great shape but obviously
very unhappy and upset. The facilitator asked, “what’s wrong?” and
the man launched into an angry tirade about how he stopped for lunch
at a fast food place and they forgot the fries. Sound familiar? I
believe the quality of life is made from what we decide to focus on.
If you focus on the good that’s what you will have, so focus on
what’s great about things instead of the little glitches.
Think of the ones you love and for
a month decide to remember only the wonderful things they do or have
done. Do this with everyone and especially your spouse and kids.
Make a resolute decision to think this way and your world will
forever be changed. The goodness you focus on will expand. You will
see a miracle, and you will realize your power to create the world
that you want. Do this with as much diligence as you have previously
given to seeing the flaws. Overlook the flaws. For a month decide to
overlook them everywhere and see what happens. And purify your
speech. Don’t speak the complaints, it makes them grow. If someone
starts going off about how terrible things are, change the subject,
ask them a disarming question like; What interesting things have you
been doing lately? This will move their mind off the negative. This
is an easy way to change the world. Change your world first and do
it as if it’s the most important thing in your life. Because it is.
Sincerely,
John McKenna |
