I want each of you to hold out your hand in front of you. Look at it. No, really! Look at your hand! There are some interesting attributes there.

Let's start with the thumb! It is shorter and fatter than all the other fingers. It's a constant reminder that there are all kinds of different people across the world. There are short people, fat people, skinny, tall, bald, hairy and many more! The thumb is a tribute to all those people out there that are different and stand out from the crowd.

I came home from work one day to find my 4 year old daughter sucking her thumb. I stopped in front of her and asked her what she was doing. She pulled her thumb out of her mouth long enough to say, "I'm thinking!"

That sparked some thoughts for this ole cowboy. You can have positive thoughts and negative thoughts. For example, what are your thoughts about yourself.

You can have some great positive thoughts like I am smart, funny, handsome, pretty, strong and happy. But you can also have those nagging negative thoughts about yourself. I am stupid, ugly, weak and unhappy all the time! The thoughts are all in our thumb.

This leads us to the next finger, the pointer. My Mom could show strong attitude with her pointing finger when I was sporting those bad thoughts as a kid!

Remember, you can have positive or negative attitudes. How do you develop those attitudes?

You attitudes are built upon the thoughts you have. If you have positive thoughts, you will develop positive attitudes. The negative thoughts you think about yourself leads you to have a bad attitude! These bad attitudes leads us to the next finger.

Be careful, because the middle finger can show powerful negative emotions. Does hate come to mind? Ha! It did for me!

However, you can experience positive emotions as well. Love comes instantly to mind.

These first three fingers lead us to the our fourth finger. It is called the ring finger for good reason. It is our action finger. As with the other fingers we can have good and bad actions.

What determines what actions we take? It all starts with our thoughts! Bad thoughts, attitudes and emotions about yourself will have you acting in a negative way.

Thinking that you are the worst writer in the world will only lead poor attitudes about writing. You will come to hate to produce any writing at all! Do you think you could act (write positively) under these conditions? Not a chance!

Great self thoughts lead to great attitudes, emotions and actions. This leaves the last finger, the pinky.

This finger represents consequences or results. Do you want to have positive results? The place to start is in your mind! Choose to think positive thoughts which will lead to positive attitudes, emotions, actions and consequences! It is all right there in your five fingers of your hand!

The next time you see someone sucking their thumb, remember, they are in the process of thinking!

Just some positive thumb thoughts from an ole cowboy.