There was a plaque that hung next to my mother’s bed for most of my young life (probably all of it).  It was made for her by a friend named Jo Wilson who lived in Montana.  I grew up knowing who Jo was because it was a trip to help Jo care for her two young children that inspired my mother to want children of her own.  The plaque read “Change Your Thoughts and You Will Change Your World.”

I have since learned that this quote was authored by Norman Vincent Peale.  I learned this after my mother’s death when we were designing the pamphlet for her celebration of life  and we chose to include it.  Funny how something can influence your entire existence and yet you only learn its provenance when your mother dies and you need to put something together to commemorate her.

It’s how my mother lived her life.  It’s how she taught David and I to live ours. I don’t think it was always easy for her.  It certainly hasn’t always been easy for me.  And yet, it does magically give you perspective when you desperately need it.  Change your thoughts; change your world.  Whether intentionally or not, she laid the seeds in both of us to consider and learn about Eastern philosophy. The power of the mind.  Intentions.  Positivity.

I believe that life is a series of choices.  And we control our fate.  How we frame things, how we choose to feel … not just the obvious choices but all the tiny ones in between.  Do I choose to be sad all the time about the hand that I’m playing in this game called life?  Do I choose to greet each day as a blank slate, ready to be filled with knowledge and wonder?  I believe that I have that choice.  I don’t believe it is all written for me.  Maybe there’s an outline, maybe fate plays a part, but my choices determine my outcome.

Sometimes I didn’t even know I was making choices.  But I was.  And here I am now.  Nearly a whole month into a new year.  Making choices big and small every moment of every day.  It’s truly awesome to contemplate.

Change your thoughts and you will change your world.  Yes.

Xox, g