At the risk of sounding arrogant or phony, I must say, life is fun.  It really is.  I am enjoying my life each day and I wouldn’t trade it for any other..

The reason I share this is because this has not always been the case.  Although I have had fun times throughout my life I have never really enjoyed life like I am enjoying it now.  I feel like I have finally “arrived.”  No, I have not reached my final career goal nor have I fit into the size 6 jeans I once coveted.  I am not driving a new car or living in a large house.  I am not famous nor am I earning the amount of money I’d eventually like to earn.  But, I am having fun living the life I have been given.

Interestingly, as I began to change my thought patterns a few years ago and I began Choose a Better Life, a funny thing happened … my life got better.  And it continues to get better.  When people ask how I am doing I find myself genuinely answering, “I am doing great.  Life is fun.”

This is not to say that life is without its challenges.  Trust me, I have plenty – a 21-year old daughter who refuses to speak to me for reasons I do not understand; a biological family that is far from healthy; a dear friend on the other side of the country who is hurting deeply and whom I cannot help; and physical pain from injuries that never seems to fully disappear.  These are just a few of my current challenges.

But, when I think of my life, I don’t think of those challenges first.  What I think of is the joy I have for living and the abundance of blessings I get to experience every day.  I love my life.  I really do.

It is no small coincidence that as I began to retrain my mind to focus on the positive and as I began to bless others and myself the negative things in my life seemed to take up less and less space in my consciousness.  Now I have to stop and really think if I want to list my challenges – this is not something I do very often.  In fact, I spend so much time listing my blessings and the things that are going well that I often don’t have time to think of the challenges.  Nor do I want to.

No, I am not living in denial.  I am well aware of the areas of life that are less than perfect and I work to do what I can to change them.  But, I no longer allow them to consume me, overwhelm me, or dictate my moods and feelings.  I wasted too many years doing just that.  Now I celebrate life and enjoy the fun.

Choose a Better Life by choosing to let go of the negative, focus on the positive, bless yourself and others, and have fun!