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JANUARY OCTOBER 21, 29,2021 2015||The TheJewish JewishHome Home
The Power of Positivity MY MOTHER’S LIFE LESSONS ON CHOOSING HAPPINESS BY RACHAYLE DEUTSCH
When
I asked my d au g h t e r s who the most positive person they knew was, they both answered immediately: Babie Toby, my mother, Toby Schwartz. Without the benefit of a higher education, psychology classes or any formal training, my mother simply figured out life’s secrets to success. She subtly developed guidelines over the years to living her life with integrity and joy. Although preaching was not her style, her easy wisdom was sought by all generations of our family as well as by relatives,
neighbors and friends. My mother taught by example, and we learned many valuable lessons from her gentle and beautiful approach to life.
The glass is half full. Actually, my mother used to say, “My glass isn’t half full. It’s overflowing.” And she truly meant it. She counted her blessings on a daily basis, never focusing on what she didn’t have but only on what she did have – and she felt so fortunate by all that she had. Although she did not have an easy childhood
or adulthood, my mother simply searched just a little harder to find the positive in a situation. She would tell you how grateful she was to wake up every morning to find that her mind was working. You could say she looked at life through rose colored glasses but in a very deliberate way. She felt that the key to true happiness was to focus only on the positive. Even after tremendous loss, she chose to trust in G-d’s plan for her. “In life, you always have a choice of how to look at things – even the challenges,” she would say. “It’s our
job to find the beauty.” Once, I suggested she was perhaps rewriting history when describing a bleak period in her life. She looked at me and smiled, “I didn’t forget what happened. I just chose to remember it differently and see how it was all for the best.”
Seeing the good in others. My mother not only looked at her own life in a positive light but always chose to see the positive in others. She didn’t stand on ceremony and wasn’t looking for honor or respect
