Your Attitude Makes the Difference

Many things about your life boil down to the hand you have been dealt. You can't change the fact that you were born in that place and with certain givens for your appearance, IQ, or physical skills. Education and training can open some doors for you, but they cannot change your past, make you taller and more athletic, or alter the fact that some people are unfair in the way they treat you.

In spite of the fact that all of us know that most of our life circumstances are beyond our control, we are all still tempted to fret and complain about things that cannot be changed. Of course they cause distress. They certainly put us at a disadvantage in certain contexts. They mustn't be allowed to define and limit us.

The people who do best with life move beyond the temptation to whine and feel sorry for themselves. They face the disappointment and move beyond it. They acknowledge the bad break and look for a way to turn it around. They work from a half-full rather than half-empty glass mindset.

These people have a different attitude than the defeatist and whiner. They have found a way to make lemonade from their lemons.

There is a section in John Baillie's A Diary of Private Prayer that reads . . .

Teach me, O God, so to use all the circumstances of my life today that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.

Let me use disappointment as material for patience;
Let me use success as material for thankfulness;
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance;
Let me use danger as material for courage;
Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering;
Let me use praise as material for humility;
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance;
Let me use pains as material for endurance.

When a given day begins, countless things are headed your way over which you have no control. It may be bad weather or someone's bad temper, a deadline that won't budge or a client equally resistant to change. The one factor you can control through it all is your attitude toward them.

Your attitude today will make all the difference in everything that matters.

Rubel Shelly....Preacher and Professor of Religion and Philosophy located in Rochester Hills, MI

The Cookie Thief

"There’s a nice poem by Valerie Cox circulating on the Internet about a woman who bought some cookies and a book at an airport and sat down to read and nibble while waiting for her plane. She soon noticed a man sitting next to her, who casually took a cookie from the bag.

Although shocked and seething, the woman remained silent as the man, without the slightest sign of shame or gratitude, quietly helped himself, matching her cookie for cookie.

When there was one cookie left, she watched in amazement as he picked it up, smiled at her as if he were being gracious, and broke it in half. He ate one half and gave her the other. Congratulating herself for maintaining her cool, she said nothing to this rude cookie thief, astonished at the nerve of some people.

Later, when she was settling into her seat on the plane, she rummaged through her purse and discovered the bag of cookies she’d purchased, still unopened. The moral message is contained in the poem’s closing stanza:

“If mine are here,” she moaned with despair,“Then the others were his, and he tried to share.”Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

Being sure is not the same as being right. Certainty without humility can lead to self-righteousness that distorts our view and understanding of the world and of people.

Humility doesn’t require us to be equivocal or doubtful about our deepest convictions. What it asks is that we hold and advocate our beliefs without dismissing the possibility that others may be right instead.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts."

Michael Josephson
http://www.charactercounts.org/

Gratitude

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. I can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melody Beattie

I'm sure we all know gratitude is good but do we give it the importance of top priority in our lives? When our thoughts are centered on gratefulness there is no room for negative thoughts. That is one major blessing of living in gratitude.

Another important element is the Law of Attraction. We attract into our lives by our thoughts, so when we are grateful, we open the way for more good to come to us! And we all want that!

When my mind is too active at times to go to sleep, I think of all the things I'm grateful for and in a few minutes I'm sleeping sound. It changes my focus and relaxes my mind and works every time.

Cultivating the attitude of gratitude is an extremely important habit to form. We do not know what lies in our future politically or financially. Days seem to be uncertain. Wars and rumors of wars continue. Also, there is talk of the end of the Mayan calendar being December 21, 2012 and other ancient culture's writings indicate the same thing. Cataclysmic occurrences have been considered as possible scientifically but no one really knows what all this means.

Since that is only two years away, let's make these two years be the best years possible. Gratitude is one way to start. Living each moment to the fullest, doing our best efforts at whatever we do and helping others when the opportunity arises. Getting our spiritual houses in order is top priority. We've always said "life goes on".... but what if it doesn't? Are we spiritually ready for whatever happens?

I am not writing this to instill fear, worry or doubt. But to encourage us to change our thinking to gratitude of what we currently have and the list is long. Our society always wants more. We all do. But let's develop our gratitude attitude and see what transpires!!

Rise Above the Blame Game

I thought the following was very good and decided to use it here and share it with everyone.


Blaming conflict-filled feelings on any condition, or person, outside of yourself is like getting angry at your shoes for being laced too tight.

So here is an effective inner life step designed to help you grow and develop greater spiritual strength: No matter what happens, never blame anyone -- or anything -- for the way you feel. Rising above the blame game is the same as learning how to be in total command of yourself.

Irritated inner states never seek solutions; they only seek reasons for why they have a right to exist! These states constantly feed you "good reasons" as to why you feel badly. The weakness that blames others blinds you to your real inner condition; which is going nowhere except around and down.

The next time you feel yourself starting to become frustrated, angry, or scared, do your best to confirm this next vital insight: Negative emotions cannot exist without having something to blame for their punishing presence.

Even if you have to remove yourself physically from a developing situation, then do it. Find some way to temporarily isolate yourself -- along with your smoldering emotional state. Please note: Isolate yourself along with your agitation.

Voluntarily isolating yourself along with your irritated thoughts and feelings doesn't mean cutting them off; nor does it mean that you should pretend that you're not on fire. Suppression of these weak inner states is just the opposite of angrily expressing them, and every bit as harmful. Don't express -- or suppress -- any negative state. Besides, either one of these opposite approaches always produces the same results; nothing changes except for what's being blamed. Choosing to not blame lifts you above both of these losing choices.

Your conscious non-action turns you into the objective witness of your own superheated emotions. And from the safety of this higher awareness you see about yourself what you couldn't see before because of all the inner fire and smoke. Your discoveries empower you to cancel the real cause of your inner combustibility. Not only is your self-command restored, but it's heightened. Each discovery of an unseen weakness heralds the coming of a greater spiritual strength. -- Guy Finley

A Great Recipe

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti- depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Talk to God about what is going on in your life. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement, 'My purpose is to __________ today. I am thankful for______________'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli , almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You are not so important that you have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. GOD heals everything - but you have to ask Him.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch!!!

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

25. When you are feeling down, start listing your many blessings. You'll be smiling before you know it.

What are we thinking???

Have you ever stopped to think about your "default" thinking? Default thinking is simply the thoughts that we have that we aren't conscious of, those automatic thoughts that pop into our heads or our old ways of thinking about what we observe and do. Our thoughts become habit and unless we are aware of our thinking, we may be getting ourselves into trouble!

How many times have you heard, or even said, it's going to be a bad day, or I think I'm getting sick or making remarks about ourselves such as that was stupid, I'm not very smart, etc. Or how many people have had people say things about them that they aren't going to amount to anything or they're stupid or something about how they look? Sometimes we grow up with these negative inputs so our thoughts are just programmed to think negatively about ourselves.

The Bible states: "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he". Prov. 23:7. We know that what comes out of our mouths is in our hearts. "What you say flows from what is in your heart". Luke 6:45. We need to reprogram our hearts. The more we read good positive materials, listen to good positive teaching series and use affirmations, the quicker we will get reprogrammed.

Think about these quotes: "There are no limitations to the mind except those we acknowledge; both poverty and riches are the offspring of thought." Napoleon Hill. Someone on The Secret said "What you think about you bring about". And Mike Dooley (from The Secret) also says "Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! ®

This instruction is found in Phillippians 4:8 - "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." That is plain enough, but The New Living Translation states it a little more in our modern language: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." There will be no room for negative thoughts if we fill our minds with these good thoughts.

We have read many reports stating that stress is the cause of 95% of all sickness. If we take control of our thoughts (and we can!) and become aware of what we think and say, we can eliminate so much trouble for ourselves. Isn't it worth it???

Pictures from recent activities

Sunset at Ft. Gibson Lake

Love those friendly butterflies

Tour through Har-Ber Village
Karla and Rick at Har-Ber Village Spavinaw Spillway

The big catch at Spavinaw Creek