Attitude of Gratitude

These days we live in a world where every time you turn on the tv someone is trying to sell you something to fix your flaw.  Weight loss products, hair color, hide the back fat, whiten your teeth, stuff these pads in your pants to give you a big butt!  We can all find something we would like to fix or change about ourselves, but did you ever stop and think that maybe the one thing that bothers you most, is the one thing that makes you, well, YOU!  It sets you aside, makes you authentic.  What if God said, “I’ll give her a crooked smile” or “I’ll give him a gapped tooth.”  What if that birthmark was God’s final touch to make you unique?  My cousin and I were talking about Jennifer Grey’s nose job.  (She was the lead in the movie Dirty Dancing, pre nose job and played in Sex in the City post nose job)  We were saying how much different she look afterwards and my cousin said she looked better.  “I don’t know,” I replied, “she just looked so different.  What if that was what made her, her?  What if God cried a little that day because he had made her just right and she went and changed it?”  I still don’t look at her the same.  Her nose does not make her who she is but she just looks so different to me.
We all have that one thing that bothers us.  We all have that one thing that makes us self conscious.  For me it is my weight.  I have struggled off and on with my weight over the years.  I have done Atkins, Weight Watchers, you name it, I have tried it and I have succeeded many times.  Here’s the thing, even when I have gotten to the weight I thought I wanted to be, I wanted to lose more!  I still found something I wanted to change about myself!  Here’s the other thing, my weight does not define who I am!  I am still the same person no matter what.  My friends and family love me regardless.  Now, this is not a pity party in anyway, I actually have a point to make.
Recently I have been reading and seeing a lot about the power of positive thinking.  Oprah has had different shows and speakers on the Law of Attraction and the science of positive thinking.  Whether you agree with these theories or you believe in reaping what you sow, once you begin to be grateful for what you have, your perspective will change.  For example, I struggle with my weight and wanting to lose weight, but if I look at some of my skinny friends, they have struggled to gain weight.  When I look at others who have health issues and illness, I can be thankful for my health.  I can spend my day complaining about my job or I can be grateful that I have a job.  With 2015 coming to an end, I want to start my new year out right.  So, I have begun to start each morning by getting up a few minutes early to be grateful.  To take a few minutes and write down what I am thankful for.  What I love.  They say attitude is everything and I am finding that this helps to put me in a good mood for the day.  Throughout the day when people irritate me or things go wrong I try to step back and look at my issue from a different perspective.
With 2016 around the corner, I want to take the focus out of the flaws. Too often we focus on the wrong flaws!  We watch the news and see all the real world problems going on.  We have flaws in the government, flaws in the justice system, flaws in equality.  Here we are feeding into our own superficial flaws.  I’m tired of feeding the negativity.  I want feed the world with love and positivity.  I plan to try out something I heard about.  Pick a person each day and send them an email, a text, a card or a letter telling them why you love them or what you admire about them.  You can even just let them know you are thankful for them.  Encourage others to do so.  You will be surprised to know that it not only makes the other person feel good, but being grateful can make you feel good as well.  Let’s see if we can cause ripples of love throughout the nation.  Let’s look at our flaws from a different perspective.  One of love, acceptance and thankfulness. Let’s be grateful.