Day 26: Celebrate You (Joyce, Eat the Cookie...)

     We are all special and deserve to be celebrated.  Joyce asks, in Eat the Cookie, Buy the Shoe, what is your attitude toward yourself? And are you worth a celebration?  Joyce points out that God is smiling over us. Instead of being angry or upset with us He is delighting in our progress.  As humans it is our destiny to make progress in everything we do. That's why it feels good to do well at work or when you get a good grade in class or when you are able to purchase something nice for yourself. This is all progress of your hard efforts.
    Joyce has a large presence in the non-denominational Christian world.  She believes that God celebrates us and is a positive, loving God.  Other non-religious speakers say Source or higher power. They have this in common that they believe God (source, higher power) is cheering us on to make progress, to be better and to continue growing. Joyce says, "For some reason religion has taught people that to be godly they must have a low, or even bad, opinion of themselves, and I believe this kind if thinking has done incalculable damage to the plan of God."  I like this thinking. God wants us to look at our progress and not get down on ourselves. If we believe that we were created by source then we should know as a parent wants their child to succeed that source also wants the same thing for his creation (us). Forget past "mistakes and regrets" and rejoice in your progress instead.
    The reason it is important to think positive about yourself Joyce says is because, "We are all limited by our own thinking. If we think small, we will live small. If we think big, we will live big."  I've wondered about famous singers compared to non famous singers. I recently saw a singer who sang just like Celine Dion and even looked like her. How come Celine made it big and she hasn't? Did Celine dream bigger? Has this other singer just not made it yet but she is on her way? Or were her dreams just not that big?  We can only achieve as big as our dreams. I imagined being a woman engineer working for a large high tech company. It seemed unlikely but I am!  Could I have dreamed bigger?  I still can. What are your dreams? Are they big enough?  Let's turn our dreams into reality. This is our destiny!