Gratitude

I re-read President Monsons conference talk ... The Joy In The Journey, and I find it amazing how there was so much I missed when I was actually listening to it! ...
a couple of the thoughts that struck me hard the second time around are here ...

It shouldn't be amazing that life is so much better when we focus on the have's instead of the have not's. Life is so much more full and meaningful when we truely realize how much we are blessed. It's eay to get a "poor me" attitude when life is challenging. I know I get a little whiney when I focus on the half empty instead of finding joy in the half full. President monson quotes the following;

Said one well-known author: “Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend . . . when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present—love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]—the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth.” ---Sarah Ban Breathnach

In D & C 88:33 we are told: “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.”

The ancient Roman philosopher Horace admonished, “Whatever hour God has blessed you with, take it with grateful hand, nor postpone your joys from year to year, so that in whatever place you have been, you may say that you have lived happily.”

I have such abundance in my life ... I am so grateful for all that I have been blessed with! I have a wonderful family, great friends ... the gospel of Jesus Christ, a testimony ...and so much more.

count your gratefuls every day and all your cares will fly away!