It's my day off and I'm sitting in front of the computer instead of doing things I should be doing. (So what else is new??!)

I was thinking this morning, how rich my life is and how thankful I am for it. I often get in the habit of complaining about little things...either to myself or aloud to others. I need to get out of that habit. Little things are nothing. It's the big things that matter. I have a wonderful family that includes a loving husband, smart, beautiful daughters and step-daughter and adorable grandchildren. I also have a warm, supportive extended family, both those related by blood and in-laws. I have friends and a job I like and we can manage to pay for our gas and groceries. (so far!!)

It's so easy to let other things bring down our mood and ruin our day. Spilled coffee, unkind words, rain, a headache, a misunderstanding, any number of things that will be better tomorrow. We would do well to keep that in mind and keep a positive outlook. But there are perhaps a lot of things that maybe won't be better tomorrow, or the next day, or next week or next year. It helps, I think, to remember that these are the things that shape us. Or rather, our reaction to these things are what shape us. We are who we are largely because of our experiences, and it's the challenging and bad experiences that shape us the most. How do we respond to the stresses of life? Do we stress out and ruin our health? Do we plod on, one day at a time? Do we give up on life? Do we blame God and the world for our misfortune and live resentfully? I believe I've responded in each one of these ways at some time in my life.

I'm trying to react differently. I'm trying to remember that I'm here to learn and love. I'm trying to remember that I am more than this body with it's aches and pains, this mind that gets stressed and worried. In me is a spark of God that is pure love and I can choose peace at all times. The only thing we can control is what we think. My mind doesn't remember why I am here, but my soul knows. So I don't want the stresses of life to turn me into an angry, resentful, unhappy person. I want them to shape me into someone who is then compassionate to others because I realize they have their stresses and burdens too.

It's a lofty goal that I fall short of every day. But just about every day, I listen to someone tell of events in their life that cause sadness, stress and frustration. We are all the same. Even though we struggle in different ways, we all have those things in our lives for which we can be thankful. We all can choose peace each day.

So when I wake up in the morning and I'm in pain, or my mind is jumbled with all I have to do that day, or I find myself feeling for any reason that I just don't want to face the day....I can take a deep breath and say, no....I choose peace today.

"Nobody can bring you peace but yourself."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson