I’ve always believed if we make a mistake or if we go down the wrong path for a while the important thing to do is to learn from it.

I agree with the experts who claim we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.

And maybe, just maybe, a mistake that continues for a long time can turn into a powerful motivator when we finally do go in a better direction.

I actually spent a full decade not realizing I was in major need of an attitude adjustment.

It all happened decades ago when we moved to new house in a new town.

We had left a historic 102-year-old Victorian house that I loved with all my heart.

Every morning when I walked down the steps and saw the way sunshine turned the marvelous old woodwork to gold I said a prayer of gratitude.

I truly loved every inch of that old house. When we had to leave it and our hometown to relocate for my husband’s job I told the Realtor I wanted an old house, not a little modern one.

He must have thought by “old” I meant run down. There were no older homes available and very few homes of any kind.

We were forced to rent a place while we built a new home.

I found no joy in the new house. “New homes have no character,” I complained.

While I was pining for my old place I ignored our new house as much as possible.

The furniture stayed where someone else put it. It didn’t matter because I knew our massive furniture from our old house would look out of place in our modern cheesebox.

For a full decade I paid as little attention as possible to the house or the furniture.

I know. It was a long time to be sulking.

Finally, for our silver wedding anniversary, we decided to buy new furniture. Soft-cushioned sofas and soft colors cast a comfortable charm to the house.

A simple change transformed the house into a warm and comfortable home.

I should have done it a lot sooner, of course.

Instead of mourning the house we left behind, I should have been turning our house into a home,

I didn’t try hard enough and regrettably it took me years to learn a basic lesson:

Love what you have.

That one attitude change makes a major difference in one’s contentment and happiness.

Love what you have.

Think about it. How many times and how many ways could we all increase our daily dose of happiness if we follow that simple dictate.

Instead of longing for something we can’t have wouldn’t it be a lot better to cherish what we do have?

Wouldn’t our personal satisfaction with life increase if we could only remember to love what we have and whom we have?

Loving what you have is especially important when it comes to the people in our life.

Wouldn’t family ties be stronger and relationships more satisfying if we could concentrate our efforts on loving those we have?

Instead many of us drown in our own negativity because of our attitude that clouds what we have before us.

In relationships we all too often try to change people. We think we could love them more if they would change.

In reality, sometimes all that has to be changed is our way of thinking.

One renowned relationship coach told his audience he could guarantee they could increase their own happiness by making only one change in their relationships with other.

That change? Stop trying to change people. Instead, if we spend our mental energy learning to love them as they are we might be surprised to see the relationship flourish, he said.

In that same vein I once went to a seminar called: “Want a better job? Make a better job.”

One way to do that, we were told, was to love the job you had.

Changing your attitude can change your job and your relationships.

I think of all the years I wasted by living in a house I didn’t like instead of doing something constructive to make it seem liked home.

When I mention how we can profit by learning from our mistakes, I want to assure you I truly did learn a lesson from the years I wasted with the home I didn’t like.

That lesson was foremost in my mind when my Florida house was destroyed last year by a Hurricane.

I had poured years and money into creating the Florida home I love. When the home was rebuilt there was so much that had to be done at the same time. There was no money for luxuries like my house had before the hurricane.

And much of the furniture and décor I loved in the home disappeared in the hurricane.

But I don’t waste time thinking about that. I learned my lesson.

Instead I truly love the home I have. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t say a fervent prayer of thanksgiving that once again I do have a home.

I love what I have and don’t think about what I don’t have.

I found the same thing works in relationships.

Love what you have.

Love who you have.

Your life will be enriched for it.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.