Blessed and Highly Favored

I walked into a business not long ago, smiled and asked the clerk how she was. “OH! God! ISN’T it a miserable day!” I thought, Gee, I know there are a few things I’d working on changing in my life, but it just seemed like a normal, brisk, somewhat cloudy, south central Pennsylvania, fall-like....uh...day.

As I left, she said, “Isn't this just awful?!? Everything else is wrong and now it’s raining to boot!” I looked at her and said, “Actually, I'm feeling pretty good. I was thinking about wearing my leather coat out today because it was so chilly, but then had a senior moment and forgot it. If I’d remembered to wear that coat, the rain would have made a mess of it!”

Her response was a blank stare. The Eeyores of the world just hate it when faced with happiness in the midst of their “drama-du-jour.” Okay, so I’m not always Pollyanna, but I’d sure rather be a little over-the-top-too-happy instead of finding a dark cloud in every blue sky. Sheesh!

I have a standard reply when I’m asked how I am:  “Blessed and highly favored.” My dear friend, Cindy, reminded me recently how comments like that just make her want to slap the snot out of people like me. Point well taken…and she would, too! I can’t take credit for that saying. It’s something I picked up in the south when I lived in Georgia. A southern boy I knew said it was something his grandmother always said without fail. She never complained about anything. She just counted her blessings and knew she was favored by God.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t recognize the problems in the world, our country, our community or our own lives. But recognizing them and spending a good deal of time lamenting them while we are unwilling to do anything about changing our situation is counterproductive. It also makes us really unpleasant to be around.

We are blessed to have the good in our lives. We are favored by a Universal Consciousness that knows only how to give. The trick is to open to that abundance and utilize it to the best of our abilities. You know the old saying, “If life gives you lemons, for heaven’s sake slice one up and plop it into a lemon drop martini”…or something like that. You get the idea.

In Spirit, Truth and Playfulness,

Dr. Terry