My Beloved advised me years ago, to "Reach into the PART of yourself" that is delighted about (any given point of perceived) difficulty. For example, getting up in the morning without hitting the Snooze Button, going to work, facing another encounter with paying bills, seeing a family member or old friend with whom there has been a 'falling out,' going to a job interview or Performance Review, etc. This has been a very useful piece of advice, for it serves me well on a consistent basis. In other words, it is predictable. It always works. It's called a Good Attitude.
Good attitudes are like forgiveness; it's most useful when one does not want to do it. What good is a positive attitude when life is free & easy, when things are going our way? A joyful perspective in a banquet doesn’t count. A good attitude when life hands you lemons, counts. People sometimes confuse happiness, which is a choice, with a good attitude. A person need not be happy when having a good attitude. When we lose a loved one and are in deep grief, a good attitude means not burying oneself and loved ones in pain, too. Children still need to be fed; bills need paying, plants still need water, etc. Life goes on. So we continue to hug our loved ones, feed the children, go to work, water the plants, and pay the bills. To me, that is at least PART of what it means to have a right attitude.
No one I have ever met or known is 100% 'good'. Please bear with me as seek clarification down the Rabbit Hole of Quotes: Jesus said, “Call no man good”. “We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side,” said Kahlil Gibran. “There is some good in the worst of us and some bad in the best of us” (Possible Teutonic Origin). But finally, ”The good is the enemy of the best” (popularized by Voltaire). We 'settle' for less. But sometimes “settling for the good” is the “best” we can do, and at those times, we suck it up and move into our day, giving our best to the world. In my mind, Dr. Paul Ohliger contemplated a coalition of the above quotations, thusly: "And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation -- some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
"Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake...unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes."
Alas, Kahlil Gibran reflected, “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.”
When the going gets tough, try the Up Look. God's love never changes on the bad days. God must have a Great Attitude.