Attitude -it lifts us up

I love the quote by Peace Pilgrim, “If you realize how powerful your thoughts are you would never think a negative thought.”

During Covid it was a struggle to keep my attitude in check.  I can’t count how many times I was disappointed over the year, as we stayed at home.  As a parent, my children’s attitude would rise or fall depending on my attitude.  I began to see their negative reaction to the crisis, because of my words and actions. 

 At the beginning of Covid I kept trying to keep a positive attitude about things that were canceled.  First, it was the cross-country team. Once it was canceled, I developed our own team with a couple of neighbors, and we ran every day.  Then it was our vacation to Disneyland.  We decided to find fun things to do around home and plan for next spring break in sunny California. Finally, it was May and June, and all the fun things that happen in the spring: dances, graduations, etc., I couldn’t fake the positive attitude anymore, it sucked.  I was disappointed and my kids were disappointed.  I couldn’t even take them to a movie to drown our sorrows away. 

 I knew we were not the only ones living in this world of disappointments. Discouragement is contagious, it can drive everyone down.

 We all experience times when we feel bad.  Our attitude cannot stop our feelings, but our attitude can keep our feelings from stopping us. 

I decided to do what I had read people during WWII did, we found small things to be thankful for.  Little things that made us grateful. I made it a challenge for myself and for my girls.  Whenever we were going down the slippery slope of disappointment, we would find things to be thankful for and make up things that were fun for us to do.  (this took a lot of creativity because by this time, reading books, playing games, Netflix and doing puzzles had been exhausted)

We have a choice every day to choose the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We can learn to develop gratitude.  It is by far the most effective response to a negative attitude and a complaining spirit.  We can stop our negative thoughts and allow them not to continue.

Today my children are thankful for the days of Covid.  It will live in their memory as a positive time in their childhood.  It was an amazing time for our family to bond and to spend quality time together.  Attitudes can change everything.

Here’s a thought for today, optimism is a happiness magnet.  If you stay positive, good things and good people will be drawn to you.  Don’t fake it but develop a thankful spirit and people will notice (and so will your kids).