Christmas is such a special time for all of us. We all have many fond memories of the Christmases of the past. Although we may be stressed during the holiday season with the added pressures of shopping, baking, decorating, and 101 other important tasks, what remains in our memories when we reflect back on Christmases of the past is the wonderful time we shared with our family and friends. As I was reflecting on the Christmases of my past, I realized that I, like everyone else, choose to remember the positive aspects of the season. Then a thought occurred to me. If we can do that with Christmas, why can’t we do the same with all the other days of the year?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all could try a little harder to focus on the positive days in our lives and the positive experiences we have instead of allowing the negative days and negative experiences to drag us down? Of course, we do learn from the difficult times in our lives. We all go through valleys in life, but once we are through the valley, it is over. We should never forget the lessons we learned, and we should never forget how thankful we are that the bad times are over, but we all need to try to live with a more positive outlook and try to focus on the positive side of our past. After all, we all have positive memories to hold on to.

So, let’s all try to do this. Let’s remember the lessons we learned from the valleys of life. Let’s continue to share with others what we learned in those valleys, but let’s not live in the negative past. Really we should all live in the present more. The present is a gift that we often take for granted. Let’s choose to remember the good times in our lives. Let’s choose to see the positive side of life, and let’s spend less time focusing on the negative.

We all have the power to make the world a better place. It is a process that starts within each of our hearts, and when we share that with others, it will spread like wildfire. Maybe if we can all do that more, the positive side of this world will begin to outweigh the negative side more and more.

Focusing on the positive aspects of life, doing good for others, and trying to make the world a better place will bring more peace to the world and PEACE MATTERS!

~Dan~