Ignore the Facts

I was eavesdropping and I liked it.

I forgot my phone at home so for once I had nothing to distract me while waiting in the chiropractor’s office. An older gentleman walked in and another older couple greeted him, “Howdy neighbor!” They thanked him for again mowing all the common areas in their neighborhood and then I was shocked when he said he was celebrating his 91st birthday.

This cheerful man sat and chatted with the other couple. He was positive and thankful. The other couple proceeded to name a long list of complaints. The 91 year old continually pointed out that he was thankful and blessed. I was thankful and blessed to listen to him.

In two days most of us will be celebrating our annual holiday devoted to thankfulness. I’ve been busy completing a long to-do list preparing for Thanksgiving and until today, thankfulness wasn’t much on my mind. While sitting in that office, two choices sat before me. One was to choose to be thankful and to count my blessings and the other was to focus on the facts.

I’m sure the 91 year old’s life was not perfect. He stated that he had lost his wife 7 years ago and that they had been married 64 years, yet he choose be remain thankful. His positive attitude glowed and I sat wishing that I knew this man.

Do we glow? When people overhear our conversations do they wish they knew us or are they glad they dodged that bullet.

My Dad is known as Mr. Fantastic. When you ask him how he is, the only response he’ll ever give is, “Fantastic!” A couple of years ago he had a minor stoke. As the EMTs were loading him into the ambulance and he was loosing function on his right side, they asked him how he was doing and he replied, “Fantastic!”

The fact was that he was having a stoke but that was not what he chose to give in to. He recovered in record time because the facts of his condition did not matter to him. He stayed positive, he declared that he was fantastic to every person he met.

I am so thankful for my father’s example throughout my entire life. He deals with facts but he faces them with a positive attitude and you will NEVER hear him complain.

For the remainder of this week I’m going to challenge myself. I wonder how much I complain and forget to be thankful? I’m goin to try and eliminate all complaints and replace and rephrase every complaint or negative fact with a thankful comment.

I already know that if I succeed, I’ll be a different person with a different outlook at the end of the week. I may even glow.

Join me and let’s be thankful together. I’ll start now – I am blessed to write to you each week and I am so very thankful for every one of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!