Daily Gratitude: “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”

This says it all. The key is that you need to define what success is for yourself. It doesn’t have to be something major. It’s usually doing what makes you happy.

And once you define that for yourself, it doesn’t matter what other people think. You don’t even have to tell them if you’re worried about what they may say. Just do it.

The most important part of this quote, though, is that you Have to like yourself. I think that once you like yourself, truly like yourself, then you’ll be happy doing almost anything that gives some pleasure and also serves others. It’s hard not to be happy when serving others.

Would you want to spend your whole life doing something you don’t like? I wouldn’t. I didn’t. I could have made a ton more money as a doctor in the civilian world but what I was able to give through my service in the Navy enriched me more than I ever dreamed anything would.

Experiment and find what it is you like. Then set about doing it!!

Daily Gratitude: “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”

Yes this is another hope message but I think we be all the hope we can muster at this time in our lives.

Others have said the same thing using metaphors such as “there’s a light at the end of the tunnel”.

There is light up ahead despite the darkness (as this quote says) but the biggest and darkest obstacle we face is the one that comes from keeping our eyes closed. You can’t see any light if your eyelids are slammed shut. I think this is what limits people more than anything.

Whenever adversity hits, open your eyes as wide as possible. This will increase your peripheral vision as well. So what? It’s often in that peripheral vision that the answers lie. That’s part of being open minded. Look at everything around you and see what you can make of it. Is there a solution lurking under the grass by the side of the tree? Maybe. But you have to spot it and then go check it out. It may not be the solution but you’d be surprised at how often there might be another path through the forest lying just past that tree. A path you couldn’t possibly discern until you got closer and investigated.

That happened to me last weekend on my training walks. I was trying to add miles and was walking along perfunctorily and just happened to look to my left. There was a path. What is that? I wondered. So I decided to follow it. It was a lovely path through the woods and eventually led back to a road I needed to get to anyway. AND, it was quiet as well as filled with beauty. I had to open my eyes.

You’d be surprised how bright the light might be if you were to open them up a big as possible.

Daily Gratitude: “Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin.”

If you wait, you’ll never get anything done. Whether you’re waiting for conditions to be perfect or perhaps just one thing to be perfect. Or, maybe you just want yourself to be perfect. Nothing will ever be perfect so don’t even think about waiting.

Remind yourself that this kind of waiting is just a false front for fear. You’re afraid of what will happen; what you’ll look like; what others will say; etc.

So while you’ve filled your mind with all these worries and concerns, you’ve remained in your little cocoon doing absolutely nothing. Ask yourself what people will think and say about that. Maybe they’ll think you’re lazy, or that you don’t care about anything, or that you’re a snob or, or, or.

I would bet they aren’t thinking “oh isn’t that cool, he or she is just wanting everything to be perfect before they put it out there.

People don’t want perfect. If you have something, anything, that will help them, they do not want to wait until all the features you plan on are available. They want whatever will help them….NOW. And, if they get more later, that’s great.

Take a chance. People are more compassionate than you think. They accept mistakes if they know you are trying your best. You never know, someone who’s out there waiting for you to do your thing may actually help you in the long run.

Be brave. Remember that babies fall on their butts all the time, giggle and get right back up. Act like that smiling little one.