Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Gratefulness & Keep The Focus On Yourself

Being grateful. What a word.

It was shared by someone I like in an Al-Anon meeting last Thursday night. Being grateful. He said he had car problems before the meeting and it was why he was late.

He has a nice car. I have seen it.

He said the old person, would have been cursing and angry. As the tow truck appeared, he called an Al-Anon friend to get a ride. And he said, he was grateful that the car had not broken down and had given him no problems for 27,000 miles he has had the car. It was a new approach to his thinking. And that this would not have happened without Al-Anon.

Interesting perspective.

Be grateful today Joe. You have;

A beautiful child. Who can be a little or a lot - "precocious." (some would say "spoiled").
You have a nice life.
You have money in the bank.
You are healthy.
You are working.
You have two arms and two legs.
You can see.
You can hear.
You have nice rented house.
You have food in the refrigerator.
You have true friends - a network.
You have a Higher Power - one you never knew you had.
You have a sponsor.
You have a blog site that you can share and possibly help others at the same time you are helping yourself.
You have a program. And without it you would be crazy, or worse.
You have tools. Meetings, books, slogans, friends, sponsor, and more.
You have a great mother, sister and brothers.
You have a laptop.
You have books to read, a library card, and the it is right down the street.

And on the list could go.

I am truly blessed, as long as I stay focused on myself. And I think this is truly the meaning of "focus on yourself;" It is being grateful. Focus on yourself and what you have - not what you don't have, can't be or what you think others are "doing to you."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe,

Exactly what I needed this morning.

Thank you.

KevinB

Syd said...

thanks Joe. I have a lot of be grateful for too.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Joe. When I forget my blessings, I get grumpy. Life is good!
Mary

Wait. What? said...

I like the whole gratitude list thing - Ihave recenlty begun keeping a list by my bed - in order to help me stay grateful.

Wonderful list.

Cat

susan said...

Thankyou Jo for reminding us to look once again at our blessings instead of the gray areas of our lives which make for a miserable day. The greatest gift is our Savior who always brings us back to reality his goodness and miraculous ways and he uses his people to point the way. Thanks again Jo

Ms Hen's said...

I heard the other day: Have an Attitude of Gratitude when I was on an Al-anon phone bridge.

I like that; and I like all that you wrote on this blog so far.

I just found it through another blog..

Betty Ann