Saturday, January 23, 2010

Away With You, Negativity!



I, like many other people am guilty of complaining and being negative. I also know it doesn't serve me very well. Being positive and grateful is really the only way to go. Life is much happier and calmer that way, believe me!
Facebook unfortunately seems to be a platform for complaining, grumbling, whining, venting and murmuring. I'm guilty too.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are frequently counseled to show gratitude and thanks for blessings we receive, even in the face of adversity. Alma counseled members in the Book of Mormon to “to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things” (Mosiah 26:39). To me this means keeping a prayer of thanks in my heart and offering gratitude to my Heavenly Father first when I receive any blessing. I can't say I'm great at it, in fact sometimes I've been quite the opposite. So I'm glad when I remember to be grateful, I'm even thankful for that!

I really really like this new site, Gratitudelog, for sharing things I'm grateful for, rather than things that bother me. Sometimes on Facebook if feels like you're bragging if you share something good that's happened to you.
Or maybe I'm the only one who feels like that?

Gratitudelog posts a short status to your profile, when you answer the question: "What are you grateful for?" to which friends can reply and comment. What a fabulous idea! (Thanks for the link Mom).

A few times of the years I've started a gratitude journal and written something I'm grateful for and something I like about myself every night. It always made me feel so good! I'm happy to find another place to share my gratitude, where others can respond and I can see what they've been happy about lately, instead of the miserable, sad or grumpy things in their lives. (Though I think being able to share those things honestly is part of a very good relationship, but maybe not in front of hundreds of "friends"). So, if you want to see what I'm grateful for, even when I'm having a harder time thinking of something, it will be on gratitudelog.

2 comments:

Shiloh said...

I've been thinking of the same thing-- I whine so much on facebook! It *is* hard to share gratiude on there for some reason! Thanks for this new option for gratiude! :)

Erin said...

That's a great idea, I've never heard of it. Another one that Chuck and I do is share a gratitude journal (we take turns writing each night). It is nice to share with each other all those little things that we are thankful for in life.
Erin Crandall