I wish I could say that

I dropped off my wife's car for service this morning. While there I ran into a man who asked me a very innocent question. He asked, "How are you doing?" Innocently, I answered my most frequent response, which is, "Great!" Now I don't say great so much because that is how I am actually doing at the time, although oftentimes life is great. More often it is to remind myself that I am responsible for creating my own experience through my thoughts and therefore if I am not enjoying my experience then all I need to do is allow my thoughts to change. If I do so then my experience will change also.

After responding that I was doing great, the man who asked the question responded, "I wish I could say that." He told me a tale of woe which wasn't out of the ordinary for someone who saw themselves living a hard life. He had, and told me of, his share of problems. Nothing unusual about having problems, we all have them. However, I find that at least one difference in people is how much focus or importance we put on them. Sure, people have problems with money, relationships, their work, their families, etc, etc. But people also can find blessings in those same aspects of life.

One of my children just broke up with their boyfriend recently. It wasn't a long relationship but it was very meaningful to her. Breaking up can be hard, especially if you are the one who gets broken instead of being the one doing the breaking. However, her relationship with this boy was a good one while it lasted. They shared some good times, a lot of good times actually and she learned a lot. She learned about herself and she learned about relationships. Both things that will help her in her life.

So, she has a choice as far as how she chooses to look at this breakup, She can be devastated by the loss and new found singledom or she can be grateful for the relationship she had. My hope is that she will find herself experiencing gratefulness and not just saying, "I wish I could say that."