Gratitude changes negative to positive

Purpose Fairy

Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?

Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.

Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.

Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.

Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.

It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are also thankful for the setbacks.

GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.

Find a way to be thankful for your troubles and they can become your blessings. ~Author Unknown

One of the most difficult statements I hear is "Everything happens for a reason." Often the implication being that Heavenly Father sent a problem to me and I just need to be more understanding of what is happening to be thankful.  In my opinion, sometimes something happens for the reason that someone else took their agency and used it to harm.  Sometimes the reason is plain stupidity.  Sometimes the stupidity was my own.  I heard a quote a long time ago that I keep in mind when bad stuff happens, "Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.'  Rita Mae Brown, Alma Mater (2001).  Turning negatives into positives is sometimes an easy task.  Take the time to look for what can be learned, even if what you learn is not to do it again.  Other times it takes all the energy and creativity I posses to take something twisted and ugly to find something positive about it.  Sometimes I need to make myself humble.  Humble meaning teachable, open to an alternative perspective, and patient.  I fixed computers for years and a few problems stood out in my mind.  One problem had to do with a wavy computer that had a monitor that never held still.  I got motion sickness trying to read the screen.  Experimentation showed me that moving the computer across the room solved the problem.  Took me a year to find out the source of the problem.  The electricians for the building installed an unshielded power supply down the middle of the building.  Installed by the lowest bidder they didn't think anyone would notice.  The computer showed the effects of their shoddy work.  I learned that sometimes the problems has nothing to do with the person reporting the problem and the truth may not come out for ages.  The computer was not the problem.  The building was.  Bad things were happening to the computer because of someone else's poor choices.  Life is like that too.  The reason some problems happen is because someone else's poor choices.  I can't control someone else; my only option is to take any experience and look for away to make it useful in my life.  I learned when someone throws bricks at me to gather up and build my life stronger.