To Whine or Not To Whine...

I believe that happiness is a choice no matter where you are.  If you go to a foreign country with a negative attitude, you are bound to have a negative experience.  If you go with love in your heart for the country and its people, I think you will see that returned to you.  Sure, Belize has its problems, but so does anyplace on earth.  If you focus on the negative all you will see the negative.  I choose to focus on the positive, and I see it around me everywhere.  Someone suggested that I change the name of my blog because Belize isn't paradise.  It isn't?  It's hot, really freaking hot at the end of August, but is that a reason to complain or an excuse to go swimming?  Yep, there's a LOT of bugs.  A reason to complain or evidence of a thriving ecosystem?  A poor economy, yes, that sucks for everyone, but it gives the community a chance to pull together.  Just like me volunteering at the schools.  I would not be needed like this back in the States.  Just like the proverbial glass, it is your PERCEPTION that makes a place Paradise or Hell.  Attitude is the minds paint brush, it can color any situation.  Paradise?   Maybe not, but this is where I have chosen to make my home and raise my children and I will be damned if I will let some one else's negativity alter my happiness.