Watch Your Character

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; for it becomes your destiny. ~ Upanishads

Today, is one of those days where I'm truly feeling at peace. Like, it's when your faith falters is when you lose sight of all the things you do have and that’s what I’m slowly starting to realize. People have always said that to me, “Be grateful” and I hate to say that as old as I am, I never fully realized the concept of it. I always thought I was a “grateful” person..really, I did. Lately, while I’ve been on this detox I’ve been slowing down and just looking at things.

In the beginning, I noticed that I wasn’t being grateful. I was very annoyed at everything, I mean absolutely everything. If I was damn near ordering McDonalds the questions in my mind would be things such as “Is it really that hard to hear the words ‘sweet & sour sauce’ versus ‘barbecue’? “ I realized that I’d get so annoyed. I was annoyed to a point as if someone took something from me, or did something that would drastically ruin my day. As opposed to saying to myself, “I know what it’s like to not have a job for nearly 9 months and being able to afford McDonalds was like buying gold.” Despite the fact that I heavily dislike my retail job, and just quit, I started to get comfortable again with just because I was having some form of flowing, guaranteed money that I deserved things to come to me within a certain time and space.

But I guess, lately, I’ve been “watching my character”. I had lost a lot of faith in God and Jesus and the sort, and now, I’ve been slowly feeling more connected than I ever have been before. I’m interrupting myself to say a word of thanks, gratitude or praise. It’s been lending such comfort, and I never saw how much it could. When you really start to tally up the things you do have, and acknowledge that things would be 700 times worse if you didn’t have these things..it spins the perspective so heavily. It’s the money to buy Starbucks, when children can’t even afford clean water. What did I do to deserve being so lucky? So fortunate? Tomorrow, I’m donating around $400 in clothes and shoes, to start, to the OCRF: Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. I feel like, I’ve been so blessed as to not come down with such a fatal illness that my mother’s aunt passed away of recently that I need to give something that would bring a smile to the women who do have it. I want them to have nice things, and feel beautiful and I’ve been so fortunate to have so much money to spend on clothing that I do need to share some of what I have.

I need to spread love.

Watching my character is becoming more and more apart of my day-to-day life. I'm trying so much harder to think before I speak, and think before I react.

The more you practice something, the easier it DOES become. Practicing gratitude I'm truly realizing is the best habit one can have.