Aging with Grace

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.

William James

In what is a relatively peaceful life, I have had some challenges over the past few months, a disturbing decision by a family member, a bug infestation, some minor surgery. By itself, each one created some unease. Together, they worked to turn my life upside down. I would like to tell you I breezed through it all without a whimper. Unfortunately, I did not. I have done more of my share of feeling sorry for myself, lamenting  my sad situation and saying, “Why me?”No surprise, none of that helped. What, finally, did go a long way in making the situation better was doing something about what I had control over and accepting what remained. 

I  have been a fan of Louise Hay for many years. She writes in a positive, no nonsense way about how we control our own lives. What we believe about ourselves and our circumstances determines how our present and our future play out. Positive or negative, it’s our choice. I like to think that God sent us forth with the mandate that we have the power to make of our lives what we chose. Some of us are better at it than others. That doesn’t mean we aren’t all given the same opportunity. I know that I have not always manifested what’s best for me. I would rather believe in a benevolent God who gives us the chance to improve our lives than in one who makes all the decisions for us and we are forced to live out the result.