Alphabet Blogging Beginning A

 

Yes there are 26 letters in the alphabet…and I promise I’ll do my best to get through every letter before the end of the year…with 33 weeks left I have a little wiggle room…..  I’m starting today with the letter A and I chose the word Attitude
 
First I looked at what the Bible had to say about the word and there are many many many verses that could be used, but
Ephesians 4:31-32 was the one that spoke to me most.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
How can we maintain a positive attitude…as I see it!
1. Focus on Family & friends – Spend more time with loved ones and friends.  Enjoying close relationships is the best predictor of happiness.
2. Get Rid of the Negative – If you want to live a positive, joyful and happy life, you cannot –- absolutely CANNOT -– be surrounded by negative people who are not encouraging your happiness. Negative people tend to attract other negative people…steer clear!
3. Now Look for the Positive - There is the positive aspect in everything. In every person, in every situation, there is something good. Most of the time it’s not all that obvious. We have to look. And sometimes we have to look hard.
4. Share Happiness with Other – Pay it Forward – Acts of Kindness - Be nice to other people, no matter what. Tell someone he or she looks nice today. Tell someone they did a great job on that presentation. Tell your parents or children (or both!) how much you love them and how great they are.
5. Practice Gratitude - Count your blessings. What has God blessed you with? Healthy children? A good job? A comfortable home?  A refrigerator full of food? By focusing on the good things in your life instead of the bad or the not-good-enough, you will cultivate a positive outlook.

I want my attitude to be remember by those closest to me as loving, caring, and that I am very generous with the time I give to others.  It is not always easy to be the positive and on top of the world and I certainly don’t wake up that way every morning.  On those morning that I wake feeling a little down I say the words to Robert Frost’s Poem

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

I will close this Blogging the Alphabet with thanks to my parents who have instilled in me the attitude of love, learning, and growing each day.  God Bless each of us with a positive attitude towards all.