Pastor Glenn Coon, whom I mentioned, had a dramatic event himself with the power of gratitude. He'd been diagnosed with nervous exhaustion and was ordered six months of bed rest at one point. When he was in bed, he started to express gratitude for "simple" things around him--like a roof over his head, a door to keep him safe, a bed to sleep in, teeth to brush, his toothbrush, a jaw to keep his teeth in, etc. Some of it was almost humourous but there are things we take for granted and don't even realize it.... Pastor Coon continued being thankful for things every day and within two weeks he was out of bed and well again!
When I was a teenager, my mother used to listen to some talks on cassette tapes by Pastor Coon and that was how I first heard of him. He wrote some books, also.
In college, I decided to try Pastor Coon's "Ten point plan," for ten days. Before that, I used to say something like, "I have this and this and this good thing in my life, but I have this bad thing...." And after the ten days, I learned to say, "I have this one bad thing in my life but I have this and this and this good thing...." My thinking changed from negative to positive! Under times of stress, a person might need a reminder to stay positive--like when my dad encouraged me--but I've found that gratitude really makes a difference!
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