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Another Day in the Country

By PAT WICK

© Another Day in the Country

I was pretty young. It was a long time ago, when I read a book called "The Power of Positive Thinking." It made an impact on my life. I attempted, to the best of my ability, to put those principles into my everyday interactions.

It seems like every 10 years or so another book surfaced, stressing that same idea of thinking positively. Until those authors jogged us out of our complacency, little did we know how strong was the message of foreboding in our very DNA.

It's always been amazing to me to see a cycle of bad things, tragedies, sickness, zeroing in on a family. The recitation can be mind-boggling. There was a school teacher I met in my 20s that had more negative things happen to her than anyone I'd ever known. I tried and tried to figure out how so many bad things could happen to one person — whether it was car trouble, damaged children, or fires in the kitchen.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't necessarily that more bad things happened to her than anyone else. I decided that it was what she underlined, emphasized, talked about, noted. Perhaps, just maybe, if all things good were underlined, emphasized, talked about, and noted — life would be different.

Right there, in that moment of thanks, my upbringing took a little turn for the better. Without it being labeled, "Positive Thinking" I was learning to look for the best!

Who knows what sets us on a quest for learning something new. In my life, it often has been my sister who spurs me on. When my children reached a certain age, they brought new ideas to me and I've found myself constantly challenged to learn some new trick.

Most of us, growing up in our cultural heritage — be it middle European or Scandinavian — learned to think negatively. In fact, thinking about the worst that could happen became our strength. If something bad was happening, my grandma would say, "It could be worse." And we'd all give thanks that it wasn't — worse.

Changing your mindset, your programming, your training, from negative to positive thinking seems to be a lifetime goal for me. Thankfully, every few years, another book is written that spurs me on to yet another level of thinking.

While we were in California (wouldn't you know it?) a friend mentioned another new book, about positive thinking, that has been on the bestseller list now for weeks. It's called "The Secret." An intriguing title. Jess went to the first bookstore she could find and discovered one set — her set — of CDs of this amazing book. We started listening to it in the car. It's all about thinking positively and introduces (again) the theory that what you think about you become. What you think about will happen. What you expect will take place.

We've all known that we have some small level of creativity, but think about it! What if you — by your thoughts and actions — are actually creating your life? What if, by thinking, you create reality? What if we all tried this positive thinking thing? It may be easier than we think!

Starting with how we think about ourselves — try thinking only positive thoughts for a day! What if you imagined your health improving, your waistline slimming, your pain leaving? What if the letters to the editor in the Marion County Record were all positive, full of thanksgiving and joy? What if the evening news was positive? What if the sermon at church, our words to our children, our attitude toward our neighbor or our mate were all positive? We'd just let the negative fly by, pay no attention, refuse to underline it! Think about it! Maybe, just maybe, the secret to a good life is just that simple.

After planting that time-bomb-of-an-idea in your mind, I realize that in the country, it's just another day! A day filled with possibilities! Today's idea is to turn my little corner of Ramona into a mini Bouchard Gardens. I can see it in my mind. Not only am I thinking about it, I'm doing it — I just came home with a truckload of flowers from Aunt Bee's — and while you are reading, I'm planting and dreaming of glory!

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