the good place

Ever feel like you are in a good place in life? Even for a moment? or a day? or a week? I think we don't think that enough. Americans in general. I think the focus can be on what is going wrong, what is a stressor, what needs to be taken care of, what the next step is.  Life gets lost in the next place we all want to be. Make more money, have more time, do more fun things, go on more vacations. But what about right now? Are you happy? Think about it. Are you really happy? Overall? Do you have a house or a place to live that is warm (or cool) and dry. Do you have running water and warm showers. Do you have a car to get you from place to place? I do. I have a pretty cush life, I have worked hard for what I have but I don't think I stop to appreciate it very often. I saw on pinterest (my husband is shaking his head reading this right now) a little quote carefully scribed on a peice of old barn board. " What if you woke up with only the things that you thanked god for yesterday."
Scary thought. I pray daily and I thank God but not for each individual thing I have, do you know why? It would take me weeks to name all the good things I have. I am that blessed, that lucky, that loved! WOW. Thanks God for that. All of that. I have an incredible support system of friends, family, coworkers, my husband all of it. I am happy. Yes there are lots of things that stress me out or cause me to have sad thoughts or not so happy days but I really really try to focus on the good. To see the rainbow in the storm clouds.
Why focus on the bad and bring myself and everyone else down when you can be a little bit neglegent to the negative and only focus on the positive. DENIAL AINT JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT folks. and it's not always bad to a minimal extent. Just ignore the storm clouds Lauren , just for a little bit and check out that sweet rainbow. I mean come on!

I think there was a time where I really wasn't happy. I wasbattling with depression and stressed with school and family issues and money. I remember in college calling my mom crying on a daily basis and asking her for money and to listen to me while I cried about mean girl roomates, bad boyfriends, a selfish alcholic father, needy siblings, time consuming and very difficult classes in nursing school, noisy neighbors, being lonely in my apartment and asking her for pray for me about all of it. But through it all I was still so blessed. Through all that I was learning lessons about life, love, family. How to be a good girlfriend, wife, friend, sister, daughter, nurse ect. College wasn't just where I learned my career, it's where I learned to live and live well. Those lessons are invaulable to me and I'm thankful for alot of my unanswered prayers that got me where I am today.

Life has lessons and that makes us unhappy because lessons are hard. Life gets hard but when do you choose to focus on the good that those lessons bring vs. the turmoil of being taught? I'm not sure. and I'm not sure when it hit me that my life isn't that bad but I'm sure glad it did. I think during all those talks with my amazing momma she taught me to be positive, chin up and keep moving. She taught me to focus on the happiness and positive in a not so great situation, to focus on the lessons being taught and how thankful I would be later for them, to focus on the rainbow for awhile. She has had hard and not so happy parts in life, I was initially one of them. But like a tough lesson, my life and my entrance into hers ending up bringing her happiness. A tough lesson that brought happiness. and I think with tough lessons you get rewarded. You learn to see the beauty in a bad situation. In her case, she ended up with a kid that she is proud of, that makes her laugh and loves little treasures and old trinkets just like her. She ended up with me. I know I haven't been the easiest kid to raise but I know I bring her joy and now that the storm clouds have lifted in our situation with custody and family craziness we get to see how thankful we are for the clouds to begin with, what they tought us and to appreciate their prescence because the lessons they tought us make us better people and now that they are gone, happier people. I am forever thankful for that. The clouds show you how blessed you are to finally see that rainbow sticking out.

Someone once told me that when you can see the rays of sunshine coming out from beneath a cloud, someone is smiling down from heaven. It's kind of cool to think about, good coming from beneath a dark cloud. I like it. Even though this sounds incredibly nieve, life is what you make it and I choose to see it that way. I'm in a good place, Despite some bad days and bad moods and crappy situations that still come, I'm happy. I'm blessed. Are you?