Need to relate this experience that happened to me last night just 2 hours after going through LL17.

A friend of mine visited me late last night and throughout the entire short 5 minutes we were chatting, he was rattling away complaints about why his business is not successful. And I was thinking to myself - no wonder he's not winning with such an attitude.

Then this morning as I was thinking about the discussion we had last night, I was amazed to realise that everytime he meets me, it's jusy a sting of complaints. And to add to this amazement is the fact that he's a devout religious person who reads the Bible everyday and attends service weekly.

Then it dawned on me that no matter how religious a person is, unless he's conscious about being grateful, it will not happen. Could it be that some of us are born to be grateful and others need to be guided?

Blessings always.

jpereira

That's a good "notice" you had -- noticing that someone else's conversation is largely complaining. When you first notice that, it's a bit mind-boggling.

Now, I invite you (and I mean EVERYONE reading this) to notice your own conversation and see just how much of your own talk tends to veer into that area.

It's a real eye- and mind-opener! And it's an incredible point of power when you notice it because you're no longer doing it unconsciously and you can CHOOSE a different path.

And, Rebecca's suggestion has the added benefit that other people enjoy your company more! But hard to keep your guard up all the time when you're used to connecting to others according to what misery level you're at!

I have known for a number of years that what you think and say creates your future...yet up til' now I still tend to focus on my weakness. The other day my business mentor pointed out to me that when we discuss getting the product out there I tend to focus on what I don't have yet and he asked me to focus instead what I do have. For some reason..I have up til now created a habit of explaining what my down falls are to people even new people...I think i fear people discovering ""I'm a fake""..so if i tell people first then i won't dispoint. I can feel the anxiety at the thought of putting my strengths and brilliance out there. It's a jump to make.

Jo

quote:

...I think i fear people discovering ""I'm a fake""..so if i tell people first then i won't dispoint.

quote:

and he asked me to focus instead what I do have.

Jo, I'd been doing the same thing. I'm glad your mentor brought it to your attention, because now you've brought it to mine

Thank you.
Sherri

I am much more conscious since starting the course of when I start to say negative things. I stop myself immediately and, if I can't turn the subject positive, I change it to something I can be grateful about.

I do think gratitude is something anyone can learn. I learned to be cynical (up 'til now) from my father, and I used to equate cynicism with sophistication or intelligence, and optimism as being ignorant or "pollyanna." No more! I know the positive, optimistic people are the smart ones!

Hmmm. Fathers. Another perspective which current and future fathers might learn from this. As my girls were growing up, I was eager to protect them from dissapointment, so if a "brainwave" of theirs had a high likelihood of a negative outcome, I would make them aware of that so they wouldn't be so dissapointed when plans fell through. I've often thought in retrospect that it was the wrong thing to do - I don't think their outlook on life is as optimistic as it could be as a result. Unless the undertaking was high risk, let them learn for themselves. (e.g. send us your poetry, and buy the book, etc. was probably low risk, but I discouraged it for the scam it was)

namaste
Neale