Advice I Give Myself

“If you focus on all that is awful, you will miss all that is wonderful.” Doe Zantamata

My family was in Miami. They sent me a picture of themselves wearing smiles, sunglasses, and sun as they lounged by their amazing hotel pool. I missed them. I was thinking, “If this was last year, I would be with them.” Then I looked up. . .

And started laughing. I sat, eating my lunch on a bench, overlooking the ocean. The sun was shining above me and I was warm enough without a coat or even a scarf. I had just come from strolling the farmers market surrounded by fresh and vibrant food, produce, and flowers. These are some of my most favorite things in life. Why in the world was I sitting there feeling sorry for myself? 

Be very careful what you focus on in any moment. It is easy to be blinded by negative thinking. Remember to look up and out at all you have. Be grateful right now. You will feel better instantaneously.

“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over head, and a place to 
sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world. Just that – doesn’t that call for some
gratitude? If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed
than the million who will not survive this week because of illness. If you have money in your
bank, any money in the bank, or even in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace, you are among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy. 92 percent of the people don’t have that. If you can attend a church meeting without fear, that is fear of arrest or torture or death, you are more blessed than 3 billion people in the world. If you’ve never experienced the danger of battle or the lioneliness of imprisonment or the agony of torture or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world today. If your parents are still alive or still married, you are very rare – even in the United States. So, if you have the opportunity to think as you choose to think, to worship as you choose to worship, and you have a little bit of change in your pocket, and you’ve got your health, then you got someone that cares about you. Then you have an awful lot to be grateful for. And treasuring our divinity means being in a constant state of appreciation, looking for occasions to be joyful, to be happy, to be in a state of gratitude. Every time I find a penny or a nickel or a dime on the street, anytime, I bend over, I pick it up, and I say, “Thank you, God” as a reminder of the abundance that flows into my life – when I’m just walking and breathing.”
Wayne Dyer