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My friend DHT told me a story about a therapist receiving a new client who brought in 38 journals. The prospective client said she wanted the counselor to read all these to see how mean her husband had been for the last 38 years--that she'd written down every rotten thing he did or said to her!
This really made me picture how that woman had influenced her worldview-- to look for the bad things about her husband. How different her life would have been (and THEIR life) if she had noticed and listed the GOOD things. What a different lens to look at life through.
When I attended Al-Anon meetings, I remember one of the suggestions was to write an ABC of gratitude. That often distracts one from dismal thoughts. I was reminded of this today when I looked at a post by I Am Chorus about a Bloggable Alphabet.
I know, when I went to Al-Anon, at times I would be so skeptical of the platitudes they espoused that I would dismiss them, and then I'd be unhappier. I know some people feel critical of "silly" things like listing positive things each day or making a gratitude list, too. But I eventually came to accept that there is TRUTH in some of the dorky sounding statements, like "one day at a time." There is truth that helps me to cope and live a better life--like being grateful.
The great medieval mystic, Meister Eckhardt, is noted to have once said, "If the only prayer you ever utter is 'Thank you!', it will be enough."
10 comments:
yes, choosing positive instead of negative lenses is so important!
Thanks for the link Jan, and for drawing my attention to this exercise in gratitude. Hurray for positive thinking!
p.s. love the art
It's so true. Thank you for the wonderful reminder! Yay, positive thinking indeed!
AMEN! Negative stuff happens to everyone ... and, it's so much easier to live with an attitude of gratitude when one is in a community of loving people, like I am currently ... Thanks be to God!
My resistance to this idea must be proof of how much I need to hear it this morning!
Amen.
My Bible study group is reading "Listening to the Heartbeat of God" by J. Philip Newell and also talking in general about Celtic Christianity and the tradition of blessings for everyday activities. We challenged each other to write such blessings. I came up with a few for things that I don't like to do--like cleaning up the kitchen or emptying the litter box. Now I finding myself remembering to be grateful for my kitchen and my cats. Gratitude and prayer have replaced complaining.
There is so much to say about this post, yet there are so few words coming to me.
That Eckhart quote gets me every time... so all I will say here is Thank You.
In these times, when we are surrounded by so much tragedy in the world, I need the positives more than ever ... even if sometimes it does feel dorky or PollyAnna-ish. Thanks for this.
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