Being thankful is a mindset.  People that are thankful are people that choose to be thankful.

Everyone of us are faced with things we do not choose, and circumstances we would change if we could.  We are all subject to the poor choices of others and we are all caught off guard by life.  We all have to deal with difficult people and we all deal with failure.  It doesn’t take much time or effort  to convince most people that life can be hard.  But just because life is hard, doesn’t mean we have to be in despair.

In all situations, there is a silver lining.  We can choose to focus on what is negative and what went wrong, or we can choose to find the positive and focus on what we can be thankful for.  This is not to minimize the bad stuff that we all deal with.  As I said, life can be hard, but those that have a positive outlook, decide that they will not be defined by all that goes wrong.

If you are in a car wreck and your car it totaled, you should be thankful that you walked away.

If your father has been diagnosed with cancer, you can be thankful that you have time to say what needs to be said, and you were not surprised by his death, and left to live with the regrets of what should have been said.

I know this is not an easy thing to do.  Every time we get in the company of another person, it seems as if it is easier to complain and fuss than it is to be joyful.  It’s almost like we are supposed to be upset and disappointed

You can imagine any situation, and for everything that seems wrong, there is another that is good.  The bottom line is, if you change your perspective, you can change your life.  Spend some time reflecting on what is good the next time something negative happens.