Gratitude for a half-empty glass

This week is about living your gratitude.

Day one: Shift your mindset. 

(via pinkchocolatebreak.com)

It's not about always being an optimist or a pessimist. I'm a pragmatist, albeit one who has hope. Some say that's idealism, I say that it's what allows me to keeping fighting the good fight. But it also allows me to confront what is ugly and hard to face, not just about life, but about myself, and seek ways to change. It also allows me to see what is good and bring more of it into my life and to recognize what is bad and how to disencumber those things from my life, including people.

I may not like how I have learned all the lessons in my life (or some of the people who taught me them, for that matter), but I am grateful for the life education. The mindset I have is one of gratitude: for being alive, for still seeking out what is good, for being able to still feel both happiness and pain, and for knowing that others feel the same.

As a result, I will do my best to live my life as an expression of that in the best way I know how: always doing the work. It is not about wealth, notoriety, or some societal indicator of success; for me it is about the following:

1. making honorable choices, as in "do what is right, not easy or convenient"; 
2. excising the negative; and 
3. bringing about some measure of positive in the world, whether minute or grand. 

There are days when I am frustrated and angry and I allow myself to feel that way while also looking at what it is that is causing it. If it is a useful emotion, I keep it and use it as fuel. If it is not, I get rid of it and am grateful that in my chest beats a passionate heart that fires my soul.