Hope

Day 274

A lesson that I am repeatedly being taught lately is the power of keeping a positive attitude, and just as equally, the destructive power of negative thinking. I'll admit it, I am a recovering pessimist. Why shouldn't I be pessimistic? We're living through a recession, gas prices are on the rise again, our rain forests are disappearing, there still isn't a cure for cancer, AIDS, diabetes, etc...But maybe there is a little good stemming from all this. Okay- so we're in a recession. That's no fun. But an offshoot of the recession is that many families are growing closer as they work through their various financial trials together. People are going back to school, when they might not have otherwise. Kids are learning to work harder- to truly earn what they get, or at the very least, be more thankful for what they already have. And thanks to all the mistakes we, as Americans, have been making for so many years, there are now thousands...millions of resources available to learn about making wiser financial decisions in the future. At least we have the hope that our children will learn from our past. Yes, gas prices are rising- but maybe as a reaction, we'll burn less fuel, and do a little good for our Earth. And while it is horrific that there still isn't a cure for the diseases I mentioned earlier, as a result of the search for these cures, Doctors are becoming more sharp, science more advanced, and many other treatments for many other diseases have been accidentally discovered along the way.
I had a friend that used to always say she didn't mind when things were going badly, because she saw it as a promise that the events in her life would be improving shortly. I don't know if I have it in me to be that optimistic, but I am beginning to see the overwhelming shift that can result from maintaining a good attitude. In the Oct 2008 Conference address, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said that "Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity. These three stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or uneven surfaces we might encounter at the time."

And I guess it should be noted that for every negative, there is a positive. It might even be 2 or 3 to 1- positive being in the lead. Heavenly Father has blessed us with so much beauty and awesomeness, especially if we're looking for it.

Janet