Daily Gratitude: Maybe i’ve beaten this to the ground, but it’s a topic I don’t think can be discussed too much. Tell yourself every day (and multiple times a day) that you’re brave, you’re smart and you’re strong. Make a short statement (an affirmation) that you’ll remember and repeat it all throughout the day: “I am strong. I am brave and I am smart”. As with all affirmations, it needs to be in the present tense so that it’s best integrated into your subconscious mind. I continually tell you about my favorite and most used affirmatioin “everything always works out for me!” Do you think i believed that when i first started saying it in 1985 or 1986? Heck no. I thought it was BS. However, I trusted the woman who taught me and was my spiritual mentor so like a good Navy gal, i followed orders and kept saying it. You know what? It was true and I began to see the evidence right in front of me. And when i looked back, i could see the evidence all throughout my life. In fact, there’s enough of it that i thought i might write a small book about it but dont’ want to bore everyone with my life stuff. Anyway, the point is, you are brave, strong and smart. So many other people think that. it’s time for you to believe it to!

Daily Gratitude: Many of the great philosophers have spread this word – that whatever you believe, you can achieve. This should be the basis for everything you do. As you cultivate a desire, a passion, a goal, remember this. If it’s a mad desire within you, the universe has meant for you to have it. The universe does NOT give you ideas that you can’t achieve. This universe or higher power can lead us to our desires – if we let it. We have to let go and allow things to unfold the way they are supposed to. Perhaps right now it doesn’t feel as if you will get where you want to be. Just know that it will happen but it will happen in the universe’s plan, not your plan. I have beaten a dead horse i think but this applies to my not getting into medical school when i “should have”. So many good things happened (although they didn’t seem so good at the time) in the two extra years it took me to get into medical school. I don’t know what would have happened had I gotten in right after college. I wasn’t ready, my body wasn’t ready and my emotional/spiritual life wasn’t ready. These things needed more time to grow up and the universe knew it. I was mad that things didn’t go the way I thought they should. But, i was forced to give up control and wait, just wait. And imagine what? It was the best thing for me. I believed i was to be a doctor and eventually i became one. I gave up a lot of things (shed my various skins) on the way but i never gave up the belief i was supposed to be a doctor. When things seem dark for you, hold on to the belief you can succeed!