Health, Wealth and Happiness

Thank God I got to know Jesus, and studied the Bible when I was 38 years old.

Thank God I live in Hawaii.

Thank God I met the woman of my dreams, and she saw fit to marry me.

Do you see a pattern developing here?  I love to fill in those statements.  (Don’t we all?)  It’s easy to write a few pages to explain, after the statement.  I am convinced that by being grateful and appreciative for ALL that I have, I am open to receiving more.  (I know that a lot of people feel that way.)

In fact, sometimes instead of just asking God for stuff I have grateful prayers.  Also to prepare to envision my future, I do the same gratitude preparation.  I didn’t come up with this, I’m just passing it on.  And guess what, I DON’T envison all of the bad things that can possibly happen.

Been there, done that, had the heart attack…..

In fact, try this.  Whoops, strike that.  DO this.  Finish the statement with some of the things that seemed so bad at the time.  Now, it’s not to dwell on them.  You won’t attract more positive in your life with a woe-is-me, or victim mentality.

Just look on the side of,  “What positive things happened as a result of that bad thing?”  Now I don’t praticularly care what the thing was.  There is a positive side.  There HAS to be.  At this point, some of you are thinking “this guy is nuts.”  You have not allowed yourself to look on the ‘good’ side of THAT bad thing.

Well, no matter what your ‘thing’ is, I will counter with Thank God I had a heart attack.  Then I will follow with Thank God I got divorced, and for good measure, I will throw in Thank God I abused alcohol for twenty years…

Now, follow up the statement by writing a couple of pages detailing the positive consequences that followed the ‘thing.’  OK, at least one.

BTW, this is not a joke.  It is not trivial.  It is healing.  Way more healing than   ”I think I will tell my bad story to twenty more people this next month and wallow in my pain some more.”  Or “Maybe it is good that some more people know how bad I have had it and will feel sorry for me.”  I have many of those victim stories cued up and ready to go, whenever I would want to bust them out.  But I don’t anymore. 

Anyway, from my experience, even when you don’t think you can see the tunnel, God can provide a light at the end.  Do this experience and let me know what you come up with.  Write a page at least after your Thank God I experience.  (If you feel that your Thank God I ‘thing’ is SO bad, so horrible, that’s even more reason to do this exercise.) 

There are people specifically trained to help you work through it all, and I can refer you to them.   Adios for now, Rick