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Every morning while I’m sitting on the rocks by the ocean savoring and meditating I hear a couple walking along picking up all of the empties from the night before.

This morning I heard the woman saying, “A Jack Daniels…FIFTEEN cents!” with such enthusiasm. I haven’t heard anyone get so excited over 15 cents since payphones disappeared.

We got to talking and she explained that a couple years ago during their morning walk they were a bit disgusted by all of the trash and party remnants on this beautiful path along the ocean.

So, they decided they would start taking trash bags with them on their walk and do a little cleaning up each morning.

They started realizing that all of the bottles were adding up, so they made a commitment to give all of the proceeds from these bottles to their church.

They started telling people at their church about what they were doing and like wildfire, enthusiasm spread. The congregation decided that this could turn into a great fund raiser for the church, so people pledged to match the funds collected on the bottles each season.

She said they were almost up to their goal of $175 in empties for this summer. Can you imagine if 100 people matched that? 200 people?

I love this story because it’s all about making lemonade.

Where in your life do you take responsibility for changing your perspectives on what at first may seem like something “bad?”

What action can you take today to turn lemons into lemon-aid?

Let us know by leaving a comment below…
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9 Comments

  • scottphares October 2, 2009 at 8:52 am

    Right you are, it's all in how you perceive the situation. Some people saw trash and were disgusted, others saw the opportunity there and took advantage of it, turning a bad situation into something really beneficial.

  • Rose Goddess October 2, 2009 at 9:45 am

    Cute Story:) I believe we can turn any situation into a wonderful experience for us. As the saying goes “attitude is everything!”

  • tazmine October 2, 2009 at 10:36 am

    Thanks for sharing this story, it's touching and inspiring. What a great way to clean up our environment AND contribute to their organization that does good for many people. It doesn't get any better than that!

  • svittner October 2, 2009 at 2:49 pm

    yes, scott, perception is everything! thanks for commenting!

  • svittner October 2, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    we might not be able to control everyone or everything, but we for sure can control our attitude about things! thanks for sharing with the group!

  • angeltaylor October 3, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    I love this story because I am all about trying to find a way to make something good out of a bad situation. I wish more people had this mindset of turning lemons into lemonade. Thanks for sharing!

    Angel

  • svittner October 4, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    absolutely, angel!

  • Ayanna Murray November 10, 2009 at 8:09 pm

    I love this story! Thank you for sharing this—the mind is sooo powerful!

  • svittner November 12, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    It sure is!

Comments are closed.