One thing goes wrong, then another thing goes wrong. The bills are due, and the money is short. Tension in the house, and in every relationship. My, my, then old clichés begin ring in your thoughts. “When it rains, it pours!” “Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” (Murphy’s Law). Well, “stick a pin” as they say, wait just a minute. Let’s take an honest assessment. No matter how bad things have been in our lives, no matter what trouble we have, or how many loved ones have suffered or died, if we can only speak of the negatives, the hole gets deeper and the pain gets stronger.
While we are counting the negatives, and listing our sorrows, let’s pause for a moment and make a list of the positives. When I began to count the positives versus the negatives occurring in my life, even when things are going wrong, the positive count so far outnumbered the negatives. Now I pause more to be thankful for the positives, during the negatives. The surprising thing that occurred as I became more grateful was that, not only did the negatives get less of my attention, but they seemed to be resolved faster and faster. So now, I discipline myself to count the positives before the negatives. If we are going to be disciplined for success, our positives must be on full display, even when the negatives things in our lives are fighting to make the headlines.
Take a moment the next time trouble tries to take the ‘breaking news’ spot in your thoughts. Say to yourself, “this just in, breaking news,” “I am grateful for this, and grateful for that.” By the time you finish being grateful, every day, trouble will be a footnote in your thoughts. Eventually, you will say to trouble, “thank you, because you helped me to learn the power of gratefulness.