What a fabulous holiday Thanksgiving is! It gives us the opportunity, in our crazy lifestyles, to stop for a moment and really appreciate what we have in our lives. Every year at this time I honestly remind myself of how powerful the lesson of being thankful really is.
Even at times when what we have may not seem much, just by learning the power of being thankful for what we do currently have, we can open the vault of endless opportunities and ensure that we are on the right path towards achieving lasting fulfillment.
Life at times is plagued with difficult situations, unhappiness, and pain. I personally know how difficult it is to remain thankful for what we have in life during these times of hardship and suffering.
In the year 2001, I was at the lowest point of my life, I had no money following my divorce, I was raising my two mentally challenged daughters, and my self-esteem was rock bottom which had its toll on my health. I really could not find anything to be thankful for. I remember my father trying to support me by listing some of the things I could be grateful for, but I was just not open to seeing them. They were invisible to me.
I felt like a victim of my circumstances. I thought that perhaps suffering was my destiny, but it was NOT my destiny just as it is no one’s destiny!
With time, I understood that I was not feeling thankful for what I had in life because I was not taking responsibility for creating my life circumstances through the choices I had made in the past.
With this newfound understanding, I discovered that there IS something for each of us to be endlessly thankful for and that is our ability to choose. We can always choose our attitude; we can always choose our thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, actions, and reactions. These are always our choice, and although it is not easy to consciously make choices that were previously made unconsciously, we can be thankful for the fact that we can choose.
Even a slight change of perception can have an immense effect on our well-being.
If there is something that we are not happy with in our lives, we can change it by making different choices which will slowly lead to change.
We can either choose to remove ourselves from the situation if possible, or we can opt to change our attitude towards the situation, or we can decide to learn to love, accept and even enjoy the situation as it is. These are always our choice.
It is through our chosen thoughts, whether conscious or not that we create our reality because our thoughts create our expectations, and our reality will always remain within the boundaries of our expectations.
By taking responsibility for our thoughts, attitude and actions in all situations, we are in the best position to change them into something better.
Our thought patterns and insecurities may have been learned. We may have picked them up from our caretakers, spouses, friends or colleagues. However, this does not matter. WE chose to accept them as our own, whether consciously or unconsciously. But these thought patterns and beliefs need not be ours any longer. We can opt to release and replace negative thoughts, attitudes, outlooks, belief systems, and emotions.
We can each recreate our life to make it the way WE want it to be.
We can do this by changing all of our choices to align with our true selves.
Although I now feel in control of my life, this does not mean I no longer suffer hardships nor does it mean that all of my previous difficulties have gone away. I still care for the special needs of my two elder daughters. I still have to overcome daily challenges in my businesses. I still undergo regular cancer checkups, and needless to say, I still care for my two younger daughters’ needs, but my attitude on my hardships has changed. I am no longer a victim. I choose to see the good I have in life which I know would have never been possible without going through the hardships I went through. I now choose different actions, and I make better choices. I focus on solutions and not on problems. I take full responsibility for my attitude in life and under no circumstance do I blame myself or anyone else for anything. Blame makes us victims of circumstances, and I am no victim. I am the creator of my happiness, just as we all are.
We can each create a life of joy for ourselves that comes from pure love no matter what our present circumstances are.
So this Thanksgiving let’s be thankful for our ability to choose. We have the ability to create our happiness through our minute by minute choices.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you are serious about improving any aspect of your life no matter what your age or circumstance, check out my books and online training programs HERE
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