Welcome to 2017!
Chuck Swindoll, an 82-year-old Evangelical Christian pastor and author of 70 self-help books, is also a radio and audio preacher who gives people, especially seniors, insight for living daily with difficult situations. Here is one of Swindoll’s outstanding poems to help guide us through life under situations that we wish were different.
With the correct attitude, you can still be in control of your happiness!
Attitude
“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of Attitude on life. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company…a church…a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the Attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our Attitude…I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
For the New Year, why not choose gratitude, as one extremely important attitude, in helping you face adversity. Remaining grateful for the things that are continuing to go well will help you look at life from an attitude of “abundance.” Realizing that all things happen for a reason, especially bad occurrences, will, nevertheless, give you the courage to choose a wonderful life. Gratitude is love. It is the attitude or “way of being” removed from negative thinking. Gratitude takes you out of a problem and towards a solution. Ninety-year-old singer and artist, Tony Bennett, recently commented, “As you grow older, you realize the little things in life.”
Gratitude is an Attitude that allows you to give thanks for a little while helping you find a lot.
We must never forget the importance of gratitude as an attitude as described in this second poem (origin unknown):
“Say Thank you when your heart is full
And when it breaks,
And when you are alone and sad
And when you dance with joy,
And when things are lost
And found again.
Day and night give Thanks for this incredibly
Beautiful tragic Gift called Life.”
“The World is Full of Nice People. If You Can’t Find One, Be One.”
