The Power of Positive Thinking

About a hundred years ago, I read "The Power of Positive Thinking." Even at a young age, I realized there really was something to it and have learned in the many years since that it's as true as true can be.

No matter what obstacles may stand in your way, it is YOUR choice to perceive them as large and looming, or perhaps, as learning and lessons. There are countless incidents of this in my life, so I will only name a few to connect to several genres.

At 17, my boyfriend of nearly three years left me stranded by a lake about 3 miles from my house after breaking up with me. He did not give me a reason for the break-up or the leaving me there. I was devastated. That first boyfriend really takes a toll on a young girl's heart. I cried for a long time as I sat at the edge of the lake. After a while, a rather furry bunny (one of my favorite critters) hopped nearly in my lap. He just nibbled on grass and hung out for a long time. I realized I had stopped crying and was totally engrossed in this oddity/blessing that God had put before me. I chose to see it as a positive sign. How often do bunnies just kind of hop up and hang out with you? I walked all the way home and never looked back. I made a few changes, cut my hair, joined and gym and . . . met a new boy. Hmmmmmmmmm.

At 21, that second boy moved me to Atlanta, Georgia from New York. After about six months, he slipped up and I found out he had been VERY unfaithful to me. I could have run away home, back to New York, but as I stared at the pre-engagement ring he had given me, I decided to turn this into a positive. I sold that ring, paid off my share of the rent, moved in with his best friend (platonically), and got a job as a hostess . . . where I met my hubby!  Hmmmmmmm

When, in my mid-30's, my son was diagnosed with a life-threatening auto-immune disease . . . it was catastrophic. Everything changed. We cried. We struggled. And then . . . The Children's Dream Fund offered Miles a dream and that glimmer of positive became a brilliance indefinable. We grabbed a hold of that opportunity and turned the tides on the whole situation. We still went to treatment monthly and still got poked and got shots and sat in the cancer ward - yuck! But, we found a way to make things different. We started giving back. We worked with The Children's Dream Fund to help make other sick childrens' dreams come true. We found an incredible chance to make a positive difference and the disease took a back seat. We were not so consumed with test results and lab counts. And, it seemed that once we didn't pay so very much attention, like a big mean bully, that disease got bored of bothering us and went away.

Now, in my 40's, I have lost dear grandparents, my dad, a step-dad, an incredible father-in-law, a great-niece who we held the day she was born, an aunt and uncle on hubby's side, and my mom. That's a whole lot of loss to deal with. But God has graced me with a talent to honor them in prose. I don't know where it comes from other than to say it truly is Divine! It doesn't make losing people any easier, but what a positive impact to leave a tangible remembrance of how impactful these folks have been. Still there are tears, but as I read and re-read those poems, there are joyful tears and tears of laughter too.

The POWER of POSITIVE thinking. What a magically wonderful thing each of us possesses.