Having an Attitude of Gratitude

Ever wondered what it means to “Keep up with the Jones’”? Many times we sit and watch as our neighbors bring home new boats and new cars. We are so quick to say ‘if only” to ourselves. As we watch our neighbor pull into his driveway with his brand new luxury automobile, jealously rears its ugly head deep within our spirit. “What makes him think he is better than me?” “If he can have a car like that, I can too.” The next thing you know you are off to the nearest car dealership and spend entirely too much money on an item that depreciates the instant it leaves the lot.

Society teaches us through the multitude of advertisements what it thinks we should wear, drive, eat and drink. The average person is bombarded with literally thousands of commercials each week. Roadside billboards, placards on the side of city buses, radio, television, internet and many other avenues are used to guide our subconscious mind toward a particular brand of product. We as a society are being “branded” to think and act a certain way.

Now that I’ve told you everything you already know, take a journey with me. If you will utilize the tools provided in this chapter, I guarantee it will forever change your life. Utilizing these simple techniques you will change the way you look at ALL situations. You will become thankful for what you have instead of focusing on what you DON’T have.

Technique 1: Compared To Whom?

Instead of comparing yourself to the rich families, look at the families who are living in the poverty stricken area of your city. I’m not implying that we are to look down our noses at them, not at all. What I am implying is compared to their situations, I’m sure your situation is looking pretty darn good. It allows you to see the extreme other end of the spectrum. I often see families that are poverty stricken and my heart goes out to them. I never let an opportunity to share my blessings with them pass by. I’m not ashamed to give my last dollar to that homeless man standing on the corner holding a cardboard sign. I distinctively remember a time when my wife and I were coming back from the grocery store. We were almost home and we were the third car in line at the stoplight. I noticed what appeared to be an elderly man holding a sign that read “homeless and hungry”. I watched as the first car (Mercedes) and the second car (Lexus) passed the man and never looked over. I do not drive an expensive automobile and I don’t have an excessive amount of money, but deep within my spirit I felt the need to give. I had $6.00 in my pocket and I was honored to give it to that man. I often hear people say that all I’m doing is giving that man money to buy more alcohol. That may be absolutely true; however, after I give him the money, it is his money to do what he wished with it. If we all thought that way, we would never help others in need. I give because I would want someone to do the same for me if I were in that situation. My blessing from God is still the same no matter what that man does with the money. Do not worry so much about what others think of you. You are in control of your life and what you manifest into your life by the blessings you bestow upon others. Let other people maintain a negative attitude and outlook on life and they will get their just reward in the end. Follow your heart and your spirit and you can’t go wrong.

Technique 2: Thankfulness and Positive Thinking

Stop reading for a moment and take a look at your surroundings. Maybe there is a television or radio playing in the back ground. Maybe the scent of dinner is drifting throughout the house. You can hear your children laughing and playing just outside your window. You have many things to be thankful for. If your eyes open in the morning and you inhale your first breath for the day, be thankful! If you have a roof over your head, food in your stomach, clothes on your back, a car parked in your garage, a loving wife/husband and children, be thankful! So what you don’t like your job! Be thankful you have a job. A well known speaker told a story of a lady who was expressing her dissatisfaction with her job, he told her to stop for one minute and think of one positive thing about her job. She could not think of one thing positive. If was only after some coaching that she was able to think of positive thoughts about her job. Every work place has difficult people. Are you going to let the attitude and personality of one person dictate how your day is going to turn out? Understand that by letting the negative actions of another person change your thoughts from positive to negative; you are allowing them to have control of you. They are ruling over you. Take a look at the following situation. You are driving to work one morning, the sun is shining, and it has turned out to be a beautiful day. You are noticing the newly bloomed flowers along the shoulder of the road when suddenly another car comes out of nowhere and cuts you off causing you to slam on your brakes to keep from hitting the car. You offer some choice words to the driver and take great pride in telling them they are number one using a “certain” finger. The further you drive the more upset and angry you become. While you are sitting in your car fuming over the situation, they haven’t given you another thought. Continuing to let anger build will have a negative impact on your entire day. It will determine the way you treat others, the way you perform your daily duties and the way you will treat your family when you get home because of your bad day. You are completely capable of controlling your thoughts. Just as easily as you got upset, you could’ve shoved off the negative feelings. How you wonder? Instead of looking at the stupidity of the other driver, be thankful that you were able to stop thus preventing an accident and possibly injuring you or God forbid ending your time here on Earth. I’m sure you have heard the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining”. That is completely true. Every negative has a positive side. It is up to you to search for that positive side. Unfortunately not many people are willing to take the time to do such, but I promise you, if you take the time to look for that “silver lining” it will greatly improve not only your day, but your life as well. Finding the positive in any negative situation will greatly improve your quality of life as well. It is no secret that stress is the number one cause of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and many other medical problems. Finding the positive will instantly decrease the stress level in your body, thus greatly improving your quality of life.

source:www.bobbycary.com

A Touching life story

A young man was getting ready to graduate college. For 

     many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's 

     showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told 

him that was all he wanted. 

     As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited 

     signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the 

morning  of his graduation his father called him into his private 

  study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine 

son, and  told him how much he loved him. He handed his son 

a beautiful   wrapped gift box. 

     Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man 

     opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible. Angrily, 

he raised his voice at his father and said, "With all your money you 

give  me  a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the holy 

book. 

     Many years passed and the young man was very successful in 

business. 

     He had a beautiful home and wonderful family, but realized his 

     father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He 

had   not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make 

     arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had 

     passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He 

needed   to come home immediately and take care things. 

When he arrived at  his father's house, sudden sadness and 

regret filled his heart. 

     He began to search his father's important papers and 

     saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With 

tears,  he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he 

read those   words, a car key dropped from an envelope 

taped behind the Bible. 

It  had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the 

sports  car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, 

     and the words...PAID IN FULL. 

     How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not 

     packaged as we expected? 

Determination

Here's a small story which describes you the power of determination through which I want to say you about the same.

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.

Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.

Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
 

"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."

Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.

He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment.

It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.

He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish but the project was under way again.

For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do.

Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.

Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realised with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are.

Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.
 

Life With Confidence

Here’s a small article that helps you boost your confidence.

It’s a super fun technique to change negative beliefs and thoughts to be positive ones.

By changing your thoughts, you can finally get what you really want from life.

Learn to Pay Attention to Your Thoughts

The first step is awareness. You need to start listening to what you say. You need to really hear what you're telling yourself. Are your thoughts complaints, criticisms, or just a plain negative attitude? What are your thoughts saying?

You have a choice about what you believe but you can’t make the decision until you’re aware of what you’re telling yourself.

1. As If!

Remember when you were a kid and one of your friends would brag about some really great thing they’d accomplished and of course you didn’t believe them? You just knew they were telling a whopper of a lie. So, what did you say?

You probably said something like, “As if” as in “As if that’s true” letting them know that you didn’t buy it, no, not for one second. And then your friend would say “Uh huh, it’s true.” And you’d get into a fun fight about it.

Well, this time, you’re going to get into a fun fight with your thoughts. So, whenever you catch yourself saying your old belief say, “As If!” as in “As if that’s true!”

Remind yourself what a whopper of a lie you’re telling yourself. Now, believe your positive thoughts.

Have fun with this. Say it out loud, "As If!". Whenever you say something like: 
- "I'm so stupid" As If! I'm a very intelligent person.
- "I'm useless" As If! I'm valuable in so many different ways.
- "I can't do this" As If! Of course I can do this.

Believe only your new powerful, positive thoughts.

2. As If! They Don't Exist Anymore

As you are the only one in control of your thoughts, you need to take responsibility for what you are thinking.

You need to be accountable to yourself and only choose those thoughts which will help you.

Negative thoughts only drag you down.

Decide on what good things you want. Remember this is "want" not "don't want". So, if you're thinking things like:

- "I don't want to be fat." Turn it around to be "I'm thin and healthy".
- "I don't want to be poor." Turn it around to be "I'm financially independent".
- "I don't want to be alone." Turn it around to be "I'm so grateful to be sharing my life with a wonderful partner".

Next is to imagine what your life would be like if you couldn’t think your previous negative thoughts. 
How different would your life be? 
How would you feel? 
What would you think? 
How would you behave?

What freedom you give yourself when you let the negative thoughts go.Now, it’s “as if” they never existed.

3. It’s “As If” You Are the Person You Want to Be

When you are facing a negative thought, ask yourself “what would a person who is …. (fill in your desired feeling here, whether it’s confident, or lovable, or independent) do in this situation?

Think what that person would say, what would they do, and how would they behave? Now, you’re going to act “as if” you are that type of person.

It might feel strange when you first try this out but keep doing it. Pretend you’re an actor and you’re trying to “be” that person. You’re acting as if you are already that person.

Soon, you’ll find that you’re behaving in your new desired role and you won’t have to keep asking yourself what would they do because you are one so you know what they would do.

Only choose behaviors that celebrate the good in a person you want to be like. Admiring someone because they're ruthless is not the way to go.

It’s very important that you’re not copying the person. You’re being the type of person with that mindset but with your own unique style.

4. Imagine It “As If” It’s True

In your mind’s eye, see what your new life will be like, feel it, hear it, taste it (if you can) and soon you will be living it.