A Thankful Heart

What a blessed time for a thankful heart!

I have such a thankful heart.  The holidays are a time of year that have so many mixed emotions for people.  Those who are fortunate to enjoy family and those who are alone at this time of year.

Easy or hard, we all get to choose to have a thankful heart.  There’s so much negative, devastating and sad events taking place right now.  In spite of that, the video of the man and his 18 month old child that went viral from the Paris bombings is 100% proof that your life IS your choice.  You get to decide how you deal and how you feel.  No matter your circumstances, you’ve been given the gift of choice.  Choose happiness.

It hasn’t always been so easy for me.  While I am super blessed to have a wonderful family, I have made choices in my life that have taken me miles away from my family.  Choices that have, in some ways, made my life harder.  Choices that made me have to decide how much I believed in me.

While I can look back now and kind of laugh at how hard I made it for myself, I’m grateful for every step of that path I chose.  I’m still working on figuring out where I got stuck on the story line that, “you have to work hard to have anything worthwhile.”  While hard work is great.  Seriously, you don’t have to work that hard.  Blessings ARE abundant.  You just have to look through the proper lens.

When you lay your head down at night, give yourself a hug and a high five.  Hopefully, you made as many moments in that day really count.  Set your mind on what makes your heart happy.  That is NOT being selfish.  Don’t let the “world” tell you that.  THAT is the lie.  Joy cannot exist in a lie.  Remember that the next time someone says, you are being selfish.  And really, do you care what they think?  Who do you answer to??

So, find your happy place.  Create more joy for yourself, no matter what your surroundings are.  A thankful heart can only know happiness.  I pray this holiday season, you find your joy.  It’s the best gift you will ever have!  Many blessings!!

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