Mind over Matter: If you dont mind than it doesnt matter

I believe our mind is a very powerful tool. We have the ability to choose our emotions. When we wake up in the morning we can decide how to take on that day.

My Great Aunt Helen lived 94 years, alone in a big old Victorian house in Massachusetts, with out any outside care. She thrived with a healthy mind and body all the way till the end of her days. One day I asked her what her secret was, and she responded with a thoughtful pause and said, "You know, I never worried about anything, I always looked on the positive side of things, and I saw the good in everything. "

WOW, what a tremendous statement to ponder!

Could our minds really effect how we will turn out at the end of our lives?

Can it affect how we live each day?

I believe the answer is YES!

There is a reason for everything,and we can choose to look at the good in all that happens to us.

I, like most of you, have been through my share of trying times. But I try to link the wonderful things with the bad, and see the beautiful purpose of why I was to go through it.

I wake up thankful for another day to enjoy my loved one's and the world around me.

On my last job, a man told me he was annoyed with my happiness. I laughed and said, " I would rather you be annoyed by my joy, than by my mean, bitter, complaining attitude". :)
Researchers have done studies on people who were struggling with the same disease, and the one's with a positive outlook recovered and the one's without did not.
Now I'm not saying this is the case for everyone, and some people do struggle with serious depression. But if we have a choice, why not choose joy?
Wake up singing!
Embrace the good we have, not dwell on the bad.
For me it is a constant thing to be aware of, and I am always stopping to check in with myself, to see if I'm complaining, or if my mind is filling with negative thoughts. And if so I try to flip my state of thinking, and literally say one thing I am thankful for and rid myself of the latter.
We have the ability to choose joy, anger, love, bitterness, kindness, jealousy, forgiveness.

"Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not the things to curse."
Philippians 4.8-9

Why waste our precious time on anything else?

I am going to challenge myself this week and encourage any one who wants to join me, to think only on these things and be conscious when I'm not.
And see how I feel at the end of each day. I'm wondering if by doing so, can I prevent myself of an illness I might have had in the future? In the mean time I'm hoping to be a more pleasant person to be around and to enjoy every moment to the fullest.

Alexandra :)