• “But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man, this is impossible, but with God all things are possible”’

  Matthew 19:26.

  
  I was thinking . . .On a recent trip to New York City to see our friend Meyer Chambers conduct the Boston College Liturgical Choir at Carnegie Hall, I was perusing various church websites to decide where to go to Mass and came across a phrase attributed to a Methodist pastor: Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking (L E N T).
  
  Growing up, Lent was a time of gloom and doom and the perspective seemed to be to give up something: usually candy for us kids, alcohol for adults and sometimes TV, if you were a really holy kid (and had a TV). The perspective has shifted and these days we are encouraged to do:  go to Mass, pray more often, attend more closely to the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy, for example participating in this weekend’s Serv-a-paloosa, or sign up to help in a parish ministry or to work in a food pantry.
  
  The Methodist pastor wrote that “Lent is a time to positively reflect on our relationship with God–a time when we acknowledge our sins, create and fortify habits that bring us closer to God and, above all, release ourselves from negative thinking and open ourselves to the gift of God’s mercy.” Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking.
  
  But how do we liberate ourselves from patterns of negative thinking? Too often we let negative thoughts about ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our jobs, our government get in the way of our positive living and peace of mind. Is it possible to change our perspective and open ourselves to the gift of God’s mercy?
  
  How we feel is determined by how we experience people and things. How we feel determines how we experience people and things. We feel frustrated when we’re stuck in a negative pattern; if we can change the way we approach that stuckness, we might be able to find a way to lessen or eliminate negative thinking and embrace a more positive approach to life and God. It’s a win-win.
  
  Many years ago I did a workshop about perspective and reality. Do you see an old woman? Or do you see a young woman? It doesn’t matter really–and eventually most people see both. The truth is that our perspective is our reality. And that can be a scary way to approach life. If we can find ways to shift our perspective, to look at the other side, we just might find a new view of life that is very different than the one to which we’ve become tethered. Accentuate the positive–eliminate the negative are more than lyrics in an old song. But how and where do we start? Change is never easy. And changing the way we look at things can be intimidating at first, especially if we’re of an age, but we’ll never know unless we try and there’s no better time than today.
  
  Look for the positive in each situation. Too often, events rooted in our past impact us so we only see the world through that lens.  If we can gain some insight into why we think the way we do, we might be able to leave behind some of that negative perspective and view new situations with new eyes.
  
  Allow the improbable to become possible. It’s easy to get caught up in seeing challenges in life, in every stage of life, as impossible. But when we stop and think about it, every impossible thing begins with a seed of possibility that requires us to stretch our boundaries to see it–and then achieve it. The question is, especially for us of an age, can we allow ourselves to believe that we can change our perspective to view the improbably impossible as something possibly possible–and go for it.
  
  Change our perception of people. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not always easy to change our perspective of people. Whether we get an idea of what someone should be like, or how their looks and views are different than ours, or how they should be treating us, or how little they give (or how much they have) compared to us, we’re doomed to a negative relationship. Sometimes we’re hurt by someone. It could be intentional tho’ most often it’s not, nevertheless we hold onto a lot of resentment and that negative energy saps our positivity and can destroy a relationship. It’s hard to remember that it’s not always about us. I used to tell my kids, and still remind myself, that most often people aren’t even aware that you’ve been hurt by their words or actions because they’re not even aware of you and your feelings. So that was not their intention. It’s rarely about us.
  
  Keep an open mind. In order to shed negativity and grow and move forward, in order to consider a different perspective, it’s most important to keep an open mind. That could mean reaching out beyond our comfort zone, taking a leap into the unknown, meeting new people, watching a different TV channel, or even listening to a person’s entire thought before jumping in with our own opinion. Often best ideas come from having an open mind and taking a chance; shifting negative thinking is not always easy, but at any age, can be life-changing.
  
  Avoid falling back into old patterns. The trick to changing the way we see things from negativity to positivity is to be careful and to not slip back into our old perceptions of how things should be. Or think that we have the perfect unsolicited solution to everything and for everyone, whether they want it or not.
  
  Prayer and perspective. Pope Francis encourages us to ‘clear the heart and see the truth through prayer.’ If we are open, prayer may be a most effective way of changing our perspective and bring us closer to God’s grace. Prayers are not answered when we get what we want, rather, when we get the strength and courage and perspective to accept what comes our way in life. In our family, we have a 13-year-old enduring osteo- sarcoma, an aggressive cancer. The family has established a prayer map and it feels like everyone in the country is praying for Sophie. And that is giving her and her family the strength to move forward. Will she survive? We’re not sure. But day to day, she is a warrior, grateful for the positives in her young life.
  
  Let’s Eliminate Negative Thinking (L E N T). We’re a 18 days into the 40 days of Lent. Maybe if we’re willing to consider changing our perspective, we just might be able to eliminate some negative thinking and see life in a more positive manner. Lent is the perfect time to pray, attend Mass more often, and attend to the works of mercy. Lent is the perfect opportunity to open ourselves to God’s merciful grace and gain the confidence to live the best possible lives we can.
  
  “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”