Quote of the day:
"If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” – Minquass Think about it: One useful survival skill I picked up while living in the Middle East was being thankful for all that happens to me. It is reflected in the language of the people of this region when they consistently thank God for what is happening to them at that moment—whether it is an obvious blessing or a blessing in disguise in the form of heartbreak and disappointment. Here is a story about gratitude from a famous storyteller in the region that suggest just that. Juha relates how one day despite the difficulties of his donkey dying, an extended drought, and rising prices at the market, he determined to thank God no matter what. The test soon came, as he was hoeing in his garden and a thorn came up through his shoe. After hopping around on one foot as he cried out in pain, he remembered. “Thank you, God, that these are my old shoes and not my new ones that were ruined.” As he continued hoeing his garden, a sandstorm arose and knocked him flat. After it subsided, he thought, “I thank God it is usually fine weather. Sandstorms are very rare!” Before resuming his hoeing, he put down his money purse, which contained the coins he had been saving to buy a new donkey. A thief who was passing by stole the purse, and despite a fervent chase, Juha was not able to catch him. Panting heavily, he asked himself, “What can I be grateful for now?” He had no answer, and so went back to hoeing. Soon a sailor approached him and told him, “I used to be your student until I joined a ship crew. When we were in dire danger with huge waves threatening to sink our ship, I remembered that you taught us to give thanks in any situation. I did, and I am truly thankful that my life was spared. I now want to give you a gift as a small token of my gratitude.” Opening the gift, Juha found that it contained the exact amount that had been stolen. “I lose money in one hour and gain it back the same day! How marvelous! God is good!” After hoeing some more, Juha was now very tired. He rested under a large oak tree. Before drifting off to sleep he noticed a watermelon patch and mused, “I wonder why the large melons grow on such small vines while the mighty oaks have small acorns growing on them. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Large fruit, large tree; small nut, small vine…” His thoughts were interrupted by an acorn that hit him on the head. He suddenly understood! “I thank you, God, that you are so much wiser than me. If watermelons were growing on large trees, I would be dead now from one falling on my head.” At the end of the day, he had a lot to be thankful for.
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Quote of the day:
‘Tis easy enough to be pleasant, When life flows along like a song, But the man worthwhile Is the one who will smile When everything goes dead wrong. – Ella Wheeler Wilcox Think about it: Let’s recall a discouraging or adverse situation that we were involved in recently, and then let’s think about the good things that came out of our misfortune, or may yet. Let’s try to think of at least two things. (Don’t give up too soon. If we can think of even one good result, more will probably follow.) For example, let’s say we were driving on a deserted road when our car broke down in the middle of nowhere, and when we tried to phone for help, we discovered that our cell phone battery was dead. Our grateful thoughts might be something like this: “I am glad I was in that situation, because even when I was stranded out there with no phone to summon help, a friendly stranger stopped to help me. Even though it took awhile for him to get there, I made a new friend that I wouldn’t have otherwise met.” Let’s practice this exercise each evening for the next week. Casting past troubles in a positive light will prepare us to approach future ones positively, and that is often half the battle won. Quote of the day:
"Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it still sings!” – Author Unknown Think about it: Every day, we should get into the habit of acknowledging our efforts, and the efforts of colleagues, to move our goals forward. That’s a lot harder to do than it sounds. We are always tempted to focus more on what is going wrong and less on what is going right. For example, let’s take a look at the following mathematical formulas. What do we notice? 2+2 = 4 3+1 = 7 4+5 = 9 We probably said, “the middle one is wrong.” We didn’t say “two of them are right.” All of us are well trained to focus on what’s wrong and try to fix it, but doing that alone prevents us from seeing progress where it exists. If every day all we do is focus on the things that went wrong we will cut ourselves off from progress. Instead, we should take time every day to recognize the two thirds of actions that went right. When we celebrate those actions as progress, we will be able to sustain passion even when things don’t go exactly as planned—which most likely will be a normal state of affairs. This is a good principle to remember for the New Year. Quote of the day:
“When you arise in the morning, give thanks for the morning light, for your life and strength. Give thanks for your food, and the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies with yourself." —Tecumseh Reflection: One thing that seems to be universally appreciated is gratitude. Many holidays around the world celebrate harvests, independence, victory in historical battles, and so on. Having a special day of remembrance gives us an opportunity to count our blessings for all the wonderful things we have in our lives that we often take for granted. Whether or not you celebrate Thanksgiving as a traditional holiday, it’s a wonderful idea to pick a time or day when you can focus on being grateful for the good in your life. Gratitude adds so many benefits to our daily lives. One study found that “Gratitude makes us nicer, more trusting, more social and more appreciative. As a result, it helps us make more friends, deepen our existing relationships, and improve our marriage.” That’s pretty impressive! It’s also been shown to make one:
And the list goes on…It’s hard to grumble about all the things we’re not happy with when we spend time celebrating the wonderful friendships, life experiences, children, or other important parts of our lives that we love and cherish. Take time to be grateful. Quote of the day:
"Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.” — A. J. Cronin Reflection: I saw an interesting thing in a Japanese magazine. It was a picture of a butterfly. Its color was dull gray until warmed by someone's hand. The tender touch of someone’s hand caused special inks in the printing to react. When touched by a human hand, the lack luster gray was transformed into the brilliant colors of the rainbow. Often, this is how people are. In this hurting world people are hungry for a personal touch—the touch of someone who sincerely cares. I'd like to encourage you to step out and try this exercise: Make a list of people you do not particularly feel drawn to. Show them acts of kindness and appreciation, think positive things about them and be grateful for them. Stand back and see what happens. See if they don’t transform from dull gray into the vibrant colors of the rainbow. Quote of the day:
"Acceptance of what has happened is the first steps to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune." —William James Reflection: I came upon this great story and wanted to share it with you. One day I hopped in a taxi to go to the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car pulled out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and nearly sent us to the hospital!” This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.” He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is to not let garbage trucks take over your day. Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. Be thankful for the people who treat you right and pray for those who don't. Quote of the day:
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley Reflection: There’s something called the hedonic treadmill, which is what happens when we, as humans, feel we’d be happier if certain things in our lives were different; maybe it’s a promotion, weight loss, more money, etc. Then we think, if we can just obtain that goal—if we can just get obtain that “bigger” something, or simply “more” of what we think we want—we think that will make us happier, and on and on it goes. Interestingly, some of that desire is healthy; it’s what causes us to want to develop our talents and improve. Imagine if we were all satisfied living in mud huts and hunting for survival, or if we all would be happy sending telegrams or using carrier pigeons for communication. While striving to improve our lives and those of our loved ones is a normal part of life, the key thing to remember is to stop and be thankful for everything that we have right now, to realize that many people get by on so much less than we “think” we need. It is a healthy practice, to “count our blessings,” as the old song says. Then, rather than focusing on things or changes we “wish” we had, we can actually enjoy the wonderful lives we have right now. Quote of the day:
“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” — Epictetus Reflection: One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin. The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down, as usual. Once he handed them all out. He asked the students to turn the papers over. To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions just a black dot in the center of the sheet of paper. The professor then told them he wanted them to write about what they had seen there. At the end of the class the professor took all the exams and started reading each one out loud in front to the students. All of them without exception wrote about the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center or defining the dot, etc. After all had been read the professor explained. “I’m not going to grade you on this. I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot and the same happens in our lives. We have a white piece of paper to observe and enjoy, but we always focus on the dark spots. We have many blessings and have many reasons to celebrate every day. However, we mainly focus on the dark spots, the lacks, such as health issues that bother us, lack of money, complicated relationships, disappointments and the list goes on. The dark spots are very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our mind. Take your eyes away from the black dot in your life and enjoy the blessings of each moment that life gives you. Be happy and live life filled with thankfulness. Quote of the day:
"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” — Gilbert K. Chesterton Reflection: It’s a little early to be thinking about the New Year when Christmas has not even come, but seeing as these exercises might take some time and thought I thought it best to send them out early. At the start of each New Year, most people make their list of resolutions and goals for the year ahead, and move on without taking time to complete the past year. They miss out on the tremendous power of gratitude for all that was accomplished and learned. If you really want to get the New Year off to a brilliant and powerful start, take a few minutes to write down all the things you are thankful for that transpired last year. Then, write down all the things you accomplished, as well as all the challenges or obstacles you overcame, along with the qualities you acquired or developed to overcome the obstacles—things such as patience, persistence, courage, humor, etc. Remember to include business, family, personal and spiritual events, both large and small, because it all counts. After you have completed your list, sit back and bathe in the good feeling of how very blessed you have been this past year. If you find it’s difficult to remember all the things you were grateful for, accomplished and overcame, in the coming year you may find it helpful to use your journal to bring things to remembrance. In my journal I have 12 pages set aside–one for each month. This is where I write down all the accomplishments of the month, big and small, as well as all the things that I am thankful for that month, and the major challenges I overcame or am still working on overcoming. This makes doing the end of the year review a breeze. Quote of the day:
“Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” — Henry Ward Beecher Reflection: Thanksgiving is an annual national holiday observed across North America. In the U.S., this holiday, held on the fourth Thursday in November, commemorates the harvest festival celebrated by the Pilgrims in 1621. A similar holiday is held in Canada, on the second Monday in October. In the Netherlands they have a “Dank Dag” or “Thank Day.” It usually takes place on a Sunday, sometime in the fall, when a number of churches dedicate a service to giving thanks for not only the harvest, but all of God’s many blessings. The actual word “thanksgiving” is defined as an expression of gratitude, especially to God. I like that definition. Thanksgiving to me means remembering to be thankful for things on a daily basis. Only people can offer thanks to God for life and every other blessing. Other animals can walk upright, some even seem to have the capacity for communicating. But, so far as we know, humans alone have the capacity to realize that we enter the world with nothing and leave with nothing. Everything in between is a gift—and worthy of offering thanks for to the One who provides all things. This is one of the many reasons I love the Thanksgiving holiday. I especially look forward to reflecting on the past year and offering thanks to God for his many, many blessings. It’s our highest privilege as people. What are you grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day? |
AuthorThe goal of the blog is to provide interesting, motivational, soul feeding material. All to help remind us that God loves us all and wants a personal relationship with each of us and will take care of us in times of trouble. I aspire to be a force for good by providing you with positive input. I encourage you to share the blog with others. Archives
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