The Power of Positive by Jack Canfield

Author:Jack Canfield
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chicken Soup for the Soul

Looking Out a Window

You cannot fully understand your own life without knowing and thinking beyond your life, your own neighborhood, and even your own nation.

~Johnnetta Cole

Following my mother’s death after a long battle with breast cancer, my grief was so overwhelming that I stopped functioning for a while. At the same time, my husband’s engineering business was struggling, and money was scarce. Christmas was approaching, and I wondered how we were going to buy gifts for our five children.

Two weeks before Christmas, my two walking buddies, Tami and Marian, showed up one morning with a beautifully decorated box. They urged me to open it right then. With trembling fingers, I did so. Inside I found treasure after treasure: exquisite handmade cards complete with stamps, a variety of fine chocolates, and two angel pins.

My eyes filled with tears as I took in the very personal gifts. Each was chosen with care, thought, and love.

The love my friends showed me during what had promised to be a dismal season reminded me that angels were watching over me. These angels appeared in the guise of friends.

Their loving gesture turned my attitude around. I found myself once again excited about Christmas, excited at the possibilities.

For the first time in months, I started looking outward rather than inward. My thoughts turned to others. What could I do to turn around the attitude of someone who was struggling just as I had been?

As my husband said, “You need to look out a window instead of in a mirror.”

His words startled me. Was that what I had been doing? Staring in a mirror? Had I become so self-absorbed, so self-involved, that I had forgotten that others had problems?

The unfortunate answer was “Yes.”

I resolved then and there to find what was positive in my life and to share that with others. I didn’t have much money, but I did have time. I started to share that. I volunteered to take a seventyish widow in our church to doctor appointments and to the grocery store. I wrote cards to people who I knew were lonely and needed an extra dose of love.

My prayers were full of thanksgiving. I consciously counted my blessings and found them overwhelming. A husband who loved me. Sweet children who tried their best to help whenever they could. A group of devoted friends who were always there for me.

And then I did something that appeared to have nothing to do with building a positive attitude: I cleaned house. No, I don’t mean scrubbing toilets (though I did that as well). I cleared out the clutter.

The clothes that no longer fit were sent to a charity thrift store. Books that had been read and re-read were donated to the local library for its yearly sale. Toys that the children no longer played with were given to a family with young children.

There was something freeing in cleaning out the clutter that had collected over the years.

Even as I was getting rid of unwanted items, I questioned my actions.

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