Stop Wallowing

  Ever have one of those days where you just feel bad for yourself?  Everything seems to be going wrong.  Maybe you're having a marital struggle, a financial challenge, or a health problem.  Sometimes it's easy to start looking around at the difficulties of our lives and before we know it we are wallowing in our own personal pity party.
  So how do you get out of this behavior, better yet, how do you prevent it in the first place?  The answer is actually pretty simple.  Gratitude.  That's right, I said it, appreciating what you have is the key.  Whatever you focus on in life generally tends to grow, so why not give your focus to the good things rather than feeding your problems?  Try this today.  Sit down somewhere and just pause, look around you.  Do you have a roof over your head?  Are your utilities still on?  Is the sun shining?  Do you have more than one pair of shoes?  There are so many things to be thankful for that we often take for granted.  It can be so habitual for us to skip right over thinking about our blessings and go straight to ruminating on the things that we don't have.  Did you make it home from work safely tonight?  There's something to be thankful for.  Do you have a job?  That's a blessing.  There is someone out there in the world right now desperately praying to have something that you take for granted.  Maybe it's a bed, an extra blanket, enough food on the table, or simply a day off work.  Stop magnifying your problems and start instead to fill your heart with gratitude.  You attract what you think about, so if you are always filled with thankfulness for each small blessing, you are attracting more blessings into your life.  On the other hand, if you are filled with an ungrateful spirit, focusing on the negative, and always complaining about your problems, you are probably attracting more problems for yourself.  I've heard successful people say on numerous occasions that we should "treat every crumb like a feast."  This concept of acting as though each small blessing is an enormous gift will give new life to your day.  You will start to see more and more good in each day, and the negative will effect you less and less.
  Begin a new habit of pointing out the good around you and being thankful for it.  Maybe take the time to write a few things down each day that your thankful for.  You weren't designed to live a life of sadness and self pity.  You were made for joy and blessing, and that starts by appreciating the little things.  Get out there and start noticing the good today.  There's a whole lot of it to see.  I'm thankful for you!

~K.W.