Hello everyone and welcome on this rather cold Monday.  So, what do you think about Mondays?  Are you down in the dumps, or maybe full of grumps?  Would you rather sleep instead of jumping to your feet?  Do you just barely drag yourself to work, or school?  Weekends are just too short, right?  Who likes Monday anyway?  Nothing but clouds and gray, long faces, frowns and groans.  But why? 

Why not think of Monday as a brand new start?  Get yourself up early, get moving, eat a good breakfast, grab a coffee, or tea, hot chocolate, whatever you like.  Put a smile on your face.  Start smiling at the people around you and you will see them smiling back and that in itself will make your day so much brighter.  Say some nice things to the people around, be cheerful.  And most people will catch on and be cheerful as well, it’s just something that is contagious.

Even if others don’t react right, keep that positive outlook anyway and it will make your day go so much more smoothly.  And, it will make your Monday one of the best days of the week.  It’s a fresh start.  Keep it going.  Things go wrong?  That happens.  But it doesn’t have to make your day worse.  Keep that positive feel.  Keep looking ahead, but not with dread.  That seems to be a common thing, people hate to look ahead because they see nothing but problems.  Wait, that’s a different topic.  This is Monday.  But hey, be thankful on a Monday.  You have a job, many don’t.  You are at school getting a good education so you can get ahead.  Many don’t have that opportunity.

Be thankful for your friends.  Many people don’t have any and are alone.  Sometimes that can be hard to handle.  Be thankful for your family.  Believe it or not, many people don’t have family.  Be thankful for your house/apartment, wherever you live.  A lot of people don’t have that.  Be thankful for your food.  Many people go hungry. 

Be thankful for your surroundings.  There is a lot of beauty out there.  The trees, flowers, morning sunrise, the colorful sunset, the different seasons if you live in an area where there is all those seasons (okay, I admit, it’s hard to be thankful for winter!), but even winter has incredible beauty.  Look at all the nature around you, even large cities usually have parks where the beauty of nature is visible.  The feel of grass on your bare feet on a hot summer day.  Being stuck in an office when the weather is so beautiful outside.  How did that one get in there? Many people would like to have that privilege.

I am thankful for all the wildlife around my place.  As you know, I live in a small apartment in town.  But there is an amazing variety of wildlife that visits on my deck. Tiny chipmunks and squirrels.  There are raccoons and foxes, wolves and deer, skunks and bears.  All have been on my deck frequently.  Plus a huge variety of bird life. Unfortunately the bird feeding laws in this town have hurt my bird population.  But I’m still thankful for all that do come.

It’s been a very cold spring here this year so things are not growing yet the way it normally would.  But there is some green showing up as plants start sprouting from the earth.  No leaves on the trees yet.  That’s late.  But the buds are swelling and it won’t be long before that emerald green begins to show in the bushes and trees.  That is always a wonderful sight.  And soon the flowers will be starting to bloom.  Well, probably not too soon.  Except dandelions.  Which most people hate.  I don’t.  They are bright and cheery little flowers and always the first to bloom in the spring.

Don’t drag your way through Mondays.  Smile and enjoy the day instead.  Why not make it your best day instead of your worst day.  After all, we make the choice, whether a day is good or bad.  So why not make it a good day?  It makes us feel so much better when we do.  And wouldn’t you rather feel good instead of groaning all day?

Thank you so very much for joining me here again today.  I hope you all have a great Monday and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

© 2019 Steve McLeod