Attitude of Gratitude

I go to the track every day. When it is really cold, or when it is raining and I do not feel like getting wet, I go to the indoor track. Yes, I do know how lucky I am to have an indoor track at the local YMCA only a few miles from me.

Yes, I do know how lucky I am to have a child. A daughter. A daughter who, at 9 years old is still willing to twin with me for Christmas! I have widsters (widow sisters) I love with all my heart who never got the chance to have a child with their late husbands…who did not get to have a daughter. I did, and in an incredibly short time with my love…my best friend.

I was told I would probably never be able to have children. Yet here they are. Jerry and I were married in July 2011. My son was born in June 2012 and my little girl was born in April 2013. So fast. So blessed. I know. August 2014 he was gone. We had so little time. Yet I have these two angels. Yes, I do know how lucky I am. I am grateful. I am happy.

It would be so easy though to compare myself and my family with others and CHOOSE to be unhappy. Comparison truly is the thief of joy. And a dear friend further reminded me, “the fastest way to ruin something special is to compare it to anything else.” We can’t let comparison in our hearts. Crowd that out of your heart with overwhelming gratitude. Gratitude changes everything. “It is not happy people who are thankful. It is thankful people who are happy.”

Do not get me wrong. I am human. I do not always FEEL happy. Feelings are fleeting, both the good ones and the bad. Feelings do pass. So please soak up the good ones like sunshine on your skin. Slough off the bad ones like you exfoliate your skin. Shed the bad and absorb the good and remember when emotion is high, logic is low. Although feelings come and go, gratitude is always a choice. Attitude is always a choice.

Wishing you all the happiness in the world,

Nikola Rosa