Today’s reflection comes from a part of what I read from Streams in the Desert. It’s a daily devotional that my friend told me to read to accompany the prayer time habit I’m trying to get into.
Here’s the portion that struck me the most today.
It is very easy to fall into the habit of doubting, fretting, and wondering if God has forsaken us and if after all our hopes are to end in failure. Let us refuse to be discouraged. Let us refuse to be unhappy. Let us “count it all joy” when we cannot feel one emotion of happiness. Let us rejoice by faith, by resolution, by reckoning, and we shall surely find that God will make the reckoning real.
I’ve always believed in the power of a positive attitude and outlook. The world is what we perceive it to be. Do I always see the world in a positive light? Not always. Most of the time I do and for the rest I try.
Growing up, I’ve always been taught by my dad that having a positive attitude is important. It’s the way you see things that will determine how you react to it and in turn will be the outcome of whatever situation you’re in.
In my case, if I looked at myself as a person with disability capable of nothing then I probably would amount to nothing. Instead I chose to see myself as a person who can’t do certain things but can still do a lot of other things. There’s nothing wrong with my mind, I consider myself moderately intelligent. I’m witty and a bit charming. At least I think so. Things that I know I can build on and use later on in life.
The positive outlook I was taught helped make me who I am today. Once you get to know me and see past the disability you’ll see I’m just like you, someone who has hopes and dreams. I’m also just like any other person who wants to just live his life as best as he can and enjoy what the world has to offer.
In life we face many challenges. It’s easy to be depressed. I know that for a fact since the past few weeks I’ve been sad longer than I normally am. I’m at a stage of my life that I’m halfway done with my time on earth. I haven’t done as much as I should. It’s easy to feel sorry for myself and just be stuck in a rut.
However I’ve always took great pride that I don’t really like dwelling on negative things. I feel bad but I want to find my way out as quickly as I can from the negativity. This time the way out was in trying to build a better spiritual relationship with God.
I don’t intend to sound preachy. That’s not what I want. I’m just narrating what I’m going through. It can be different for other people. The point I’m trying to make is just finding that one thing that can help you get out of that rut.
Going back to the portion of text from Streams in the Desert. It aptly conveys what I’ve known all my life but sometimes forget. Happiness is a choice. It’s a constant decision everyday to refuse to be despondent or depressed, a choice to choose positivity over negativity. It doesn’t come automatically. As people we need to make a constant effort to be happy instead of waiting to be happy.
I’m hoping that there will be more days that I choose happiness over negativity. I’m wishing you do too.