Conquer The Self and Gain The City

An attitude of gratitude builds character, perseverance and profits the whole self.  There was a time in my life when I almost lost everything closest to me.  I came home to see an eviction notice on my apartment door followed by a seizure notice for my car in the mail.  To make matters worst, my wife was not happy with me.  I was the clean room with a messy closet.  Not too long after that I lost my job.  I actually was fired and did not have any savings.  It was a rough time in my life.  My wife and I went to the food bank for groceries and though it was not as bad as what others have gone through, it was far from the life we knew we should be living.

In the midst of the worst time of my life an unexpected thing happened.  My wife and I got happy.  We were happy for a few weeks before we realized that our sorrows were no longer holding us down.  Our life slowly changed to follow the joy we felt within.  We kept our apartment, I kept my car and my wife was no longer unhappy being in our marriage.  The only thing that changed was our attitude and the way we decided to look at ourselves and our situation.  A change in perception is transformational.  It changed the way we think and the way we thought changed our life.

We changed our mindset to focus on what we did have, even if we might not have had it the next day.  What we had, caused us to be grateful.  That victory changed one thing that changed my entire life when she mentioned she was grateful for the books we have.  My wife mentioned something in a book she was reading so I decided to pick up the book and read it.  My life has never been the same since.  Reading that booked sparked a renewed interest in reading and developing myself.  Now I am on a continuous journey to dig deeper within to strengthen my foundation and spread my roots as to not move when the storm hits.  What is even better is that my roots spread to other like-minded people, which then forms a link to strengthen each other from within.

Know that what is done on the inside is displayed outwardly eventually.  Work on the inward person and the fruits that come forth will be sweet and nourishment for others to be strengthened from, just like the structure of a good city.