How To Have A Positive Attitude

I had the opportunity to serve a local church in Tacoma as the Youth Minister for ten years. The senior leader at this church was a great Pastor by the name of Fulton W. Buntain. His example laid the foundation for many of the leadership ideas I have today.  He had an uncanny ability to take a complex concept and reduce it to a sentence or a quote that was easily remembered.  

One of my favorites, he would ofter say on Sunday mornings to the church:

"What you appreciate tends to get better, what you depreciate tends to get worse."

In other words, "what you are grateful for gets better, and what you are ungrateful for gets worse." Why is that? Our perspective sets the tone for how we interpret the circumstances we are faced with. 

An ungrateful perspective victimizes me, while a grateful outlook helps me see the good in life with a recognition that I am blessed. 

Choosing to be grateful today recognizes that even in times like these, there remain good things worth appreciating.

Here are some things people have mentioned to me this past week that they are grateful for. 

• "The pace of my life has slowed down."
• "I have projects I have now completed."
• "I'm enjoying the walks with my family."
• "I'm spending quality time with my spouse."
• "I am relaxing and reading books."
• "I appreciate all the health care workers who serve us so well."
• "I am learning to use new technologies more effectively."
• "I'm enjoying the time to cook and bake."
• "We are loving the opportunity to help and serve others."
• "We are meeting our neighbors."
• "This time has given me solitude to think about what really matters."

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?

Gino Grunberg