Gratitude

It's Thanksgiving weekend.  Many people forget to take time to stop and be thankful.  No matter what, there is something to be grateful for in your life.  I challenge you to take time to look around and write down the blessings in your life.  A daily gratitude journal filled with words, pictures, drawings, and objects helps to bring the focus on the things you are grateful for in your day. Gratitude journals are also great to look back on and spark memories of what you were grateful for, especially when it may be a tough day or week, and you need to be reminded.  Look at the small things, as well as the large things that surround you.  There are many wonderful things to find to be thankful for in the ordinary things of life, take the time to see them.  

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift. It liberates us from the prison of self-preoccupation.”  ~Jorhn Ortberg, When the Game Is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box 

Perseverance

Perseverance is to persist in anything you undertake; maintain a purpose despite difficulties, troubles, obstacles, or feeling discouraged.

Is perseverance something that is easy for you during difficult times and disappointments, or is it something you struggle to overcome, wanting to give up?  Do you get weighed down by fears?  What holds you back from pressing on to pursue your purpose in life?  

When you do push through difficulties or obstacles, what helps you to move on, and persevere? 

We live in a society that wants everything instantly, so persevering to achieve goals, move to the next level, or overcome setbacks or problems is something many give up on because they want immediate results.  Anything worth achieving, pursuing, and improving takes time and persistence.  It takes the will and the drive to not give up.  

We all will face setbacks, troubles, and difficulties.   The way we handle those things is the difference between success and failure, whether in a career, personal life, marriage, relationships, schooling.  The choice is yours on how you react, and what you do, or don't do, to make life better.  

Persevering is not easy.  It takes determination to continue on to achieve goals and dreams in life.  It takes the will to get back up and dust yourself off if you get knocked down, to keep taking steps forward, even if those steps are difficult ones.  Many times, you will feel like quitting or giving up right before a breakthrough.  Don't quit.  Don't give up.  Keep pursuing your goals, keep working to overcome your obstacles.  It will be worth the effort.