Daily Gratitude: “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.”

This is why there can be an event or a situation and two people can interpret it completely opposite, or one can just say “ok, next” and move on with their life while the other becomes devastated over it.

And, since we don’t know what the other person has experienced in their life, there’s no way we can feel what they do. Even if we have, by chance, gone through something similar, we still can’t know what’s going on inside of them because their responses to everything are based on all that went before.

We always want ourselves to be judged fairly and expect others to give us a break. Are we as thorough in giving others a break when we are “assessing” (aka judging) someone else’s responses? Usually we’re not. We don’t even try to find out why they react as they do. And that’s sad. How do we think we’ll ever understand others if we’re not willing to give them our ears and our time to let them explain.

A friend told me that we judge others by their actions yet we want to be judged by our intentions. It’s so true. Try to remember that next time you’re saying to yourself “I’d never do that”. Ha. Let’s stop pointing the finger at others and instead, turn it back towards us.

Daily Gratitude: “I am disciplined out of love for myself.”

It’s time for another affirmation that caught my eye.

Why did this one spark an interest?

Because so many people see or hear the word “discipline” and cringe. To some it implies sacrifice. To others it symbolizes boredom. Still others think it’s stupid, not necessary or just not for them.

It all depends, I guess, on how you look at and define discipline for yourself. If you begin to look at it as something very positive and something that will lead to results you want, then that outlook will provide you with motivation.

After i retired i wanted time to read a lot of books. But I could never “find the time” (which is simply a limiting belief that I fell into but fortunately realized). So I started waking up early and doing the most important daily tasks then before my mind and schedule could disrupt me. The first year I did that I read 60 or 70 books. Just by getting up early and devoting time to reading.

It was something i strongly desired for myself. Love for myself. So i did it every day and now if I end up missing it because I’m at a race, my system feels disrupted. Isn’t that weird.

What is one thing that you want to do. Really really want to do. How can you create a routine to do it on a consistent and persistent basis? If one idea doesn’t work, keep experimenting until you find something that does.

Share your successes and your challenges with finding that routine. Share with us or with a friend. Use the power of more than one mind to come up with a solution.

Daily Gratitude: “Kindness is always fashionable.”

Some people may disagree with this when they look at the world around them.

But we don’t have to absorb the negativity of all that’s out there. Not even the negative thoughts and actions of those close to us.

Our job is to surround ourselves with a bubble of high positive vibrations and continually maintain it. We have to keep working to make it strong enough to resist penetration by those with negative vibrations. That takes constant vigilance and work. But the good news is that it’s productive and usually fun work to raise your vibrations.

And being kind to others is one of the best ways to do that. What does it take to be kind? Nothing. And if you extend kindness, even with just a smile, that will elevate your mood (which is your vibrations) and that elevation will make you want to smile at someone else or perhaps do more.

Do you keep track of your kindnesses? Maybe you could journal about them or just list them. Write down what you did and then write down how you felt! Do this for a week and then review your list. How has it affected you – both the acts of kindness and the fact that you’ve been logging them.

Then share the results of the ideas with other people and get them on board your kindness train. All aboard!