An Attitude of Gratitude

Adjusting My Attitude

“I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude.  It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position.  Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress…”

                                  Charles R. Swindall

“Thank you for this new day, and for our lives in it.  Help me to be open like a wide-mouth vessel full of holes that You may flow through me as I do Your work with the many, many gifts You have placed in me.”

                          Isabelle V. Hanson

         I have been remodeling a sixty-year old bathroom in my house.  For almost a month, a thick layer of dust has coated every surface, irritating my eyes and nose.  Strangers have been clomping through my house, sweaty and dirty, adding to the unfamiliar ambiance.  My office has a toilet and a sink laying in the middle of the floor, waiting to be put back into place.  (My daughter-in-law, said, “Ooo, nice decorative touch!”)  The tile, which was supposed to be here on the 15^th, has still not come.  You can imagine what this has done for my attitude.  I’ve snarled at and about people for weeks.  It’s made me very unhappy.

         Having had work done in my house before, I knew that there would be delays and cost overruns.  I knew I would chafe at the dust and mess.  I knew I would be irritable and snappy.  Living in a dusty house makes me a little bit crazy.  So, I’ve been working on my attitude.  I’ve told myself how much better the new bathroom will look and how much more space it will have, how much I will enjoy the walk-in shower and extra storage.  I know that my attitude governs my feelings, but even after all the therapy and all the training I still have to work on my attitude.

         Saying Isie’s prayer of thanksgiving helps.  I am grateful to be able to remodel a bathroom, grateful that I have a bedroom in the basement to retreat to when the dust and mess gets the best of me.  I am grateful.  But I have to remind myself of this gratitude in order to avoid hateful moods. 

We know the cliché, “Attitude is everything,” and it is true.  And, it is also true that no one is in control of my attitude but me.  I choose what my attitude will be in response to any situation. I can be negative and consequently feel bad, or I can be positive and feel light-hearted.  I can’t make the tile arrive sooner, or the messes go away, but I can adjust my attitude.  How’s your attitude today?

                                  In gratitude and with attitude,

                                  Jane