Mother Teresa, who was not only a tireless worker for the underprivileged but also a heck of a dancer, has been quoted as saying "I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there." I love that philosophy. Here was a woman who knew where her priorities and more importantly, her enormous powers lay.

We all spend an inordinate amount of our precious lives loudly and proudly decrying what we are against. We are anti-gun, anti-crime, anti-freeze, Auntie Em. In the newspapers, television and radio broadcasts we are warned ad nauseum that we must be vigilant and fight against global warming, clear-cutting, pollution, poverty and cancer. I am sure someone somewhere is even promoting the Fight Against Fighting. We're kept very busy. A person could easily spend his entire life fighting against stuff.

But I wonder if our time, thoughts and energies might be better spent if, like Mother Teresa, we focused more on those things we are for, rather than against.

This is not as simple as it sounds. Many of us have grown quite fond of fighting against things, to the point that we define ourselves by what we hate. "I'm anti-meat," "I'm anti-fur," "She's anti-antipasto," to the point that we may eventually be hard-pressed to elucidate what we are "for" at all.

Think about that one for a minute. What, in fact, are you for? This is a very important question because, I think, when we answer it, we answer an even larger, even more paramount query; "What are we here for?"

Interesting stuff and definitely worth thinking about. Worth thinking about because isn't it true that what we think about, what we focus on, what we dwell on . . . is what we get? What, in fact, shows up in our days? That would certainly explain the preponderance of ice cream in my own life.

More to the point, isn't this why the worrier always seems to have stuff to worry about, the hater always someone or something to hate and the joyful person constantly finds things to rejoice over. The world that each of us wakes up to is, in my experience, a perfect reflection of where our heads and hearts are at. I see this in my own life daily. If I focus on love and kindness, laughter and light, if I strive to spread joy, not anger, frustration or fear, if I do my damnedest to be for peace, for health, for freedom even when the glass is looking decidedly half-empty, I am rewarded again and again and again by more of the things that bring me love, joy, kindness, peace, health and freedom.

I can't help but believe that Mother Teresa understood this principle completely. Why else would she have uttered those words? She fully grasped the power of human thought, of consciousness. She was completely aware of the magic at her fingertips and the enormous responsibility that came with it. The onus to be positive, to be for and not against. All that and a killer foxtrot. She was the real deal.