Finding the Silver Lining

“Gratitude can transform ordinary common days into Thanksgivings.”

 William Arthur Ward

My friend and accountability partner, Laura, sent me a greeting card a while back, I honestly can’t remember what it was for but she’s good about those things, and inside was a little card with a saying on each side.  The quote above was on one side and it has sat on my desk ever since reminding me how important gratitude is every day. Having gratitude for both the good and the not-so-good is a game changer.  Life suddenly becomes about all the wonderful adventures, lessons, gifts, beautiful people and amazing surprises.  When we learn true gratitude, and let go of our tendency to view the world in black and white, good and bad, we realize that it is all good. 

There is intention in everything.

When we learn to see the silver lining in every black cloud, we can move on more quickly from dark moments and embrace once again the wonderful parts of life.  I’ve found that it’s not always easy to do, and rarely does just moving on once from a bad event get you past it.  If you find yourself sliding back down the rabbit hole of rage or resentment about a negative situation, turning once again to gratitude will help you move beyond the angst and back into a healthier happier state.  And, if you start to go down that hole again, reach for gratitude again…and again. 

Life is a journey after all and thinking we solve things, resolve them or get past them is sometimes misleading.  Facing an issue over and over is not uncommon; don’t let it get you down.  Accept that you need to reach deep inside once again and find a way to be grateful for the negative.  Every time you are able to do so, you move past it a little more.  The goal is to one day wake up and feel the gratitude first and not the negative.

Learning to be grateful for the good things in life is easy.  Yay, another sunny day you think.  Not tough stuff.  Yay, I lost a client today…. not so easy.  But when the negative happens, try to focus on what you can learn from the negative.  What can you do differently to prevent it from happening again?  Is there a lesson that you need to learn from the situation?

I have found, in business, it always helps improve my service or how I run my company.  When I lose a client, or experience some other unfortunate event, I make it a practice to figure out what I need to improve to try and prevent a repeat event.  Many of the changes that I make to the company protocols come out of negative experiences.  I no longer stress or worry, for long, I move on and find the benefit or the change that will improve things.

Not that this attitude of gratitude is easy to do all the time.  It is something that you need to practice over and over.  When you remember to go there as quickly as you can and as often as you need to, it can help you overcome life’s adversities at a much faster rate and keep you smiling despite the challenges that arise.

Sherry Lutz Herrington is the owner of Sherrington Financial Fitness, a business consulting and accounting firm specializing in strategic business planning and solid financial accounting for businesses. She is also the author of Strong Women Thriving (https://strongwomenthriving.com/), a blog which focuses on empowering women to be financially savvy, particularly after experiencing financial abuse. Sherry is currently writing a new book that both shares her personal story and addresses financial abuse. She can be reached at hello@strongwomenthriving.com.