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.

Daily Gratitude: “No experience is wasted if I bring attention to it.”

What can you derive from an experience? How can you use it to shape your future…even if that future is just a few hours.

We lost power yesterday for about 5 hours. I didn’t open my refrigerator because it wasn’t clear how long the power would be out and I wanted to keep as much cold in there as possible.

That meant I could only have warm soda and warm water. I was missing my caffeine fix and my morning shake.

I had to get my camping gear out to power up a small USB light once I was done using my phone for my basic morning tasks. But I also had to charge the phone.

And it was raining so that was messing with my intent to do a heat acclimating walk.

Poor me.

Was any of this in my control? Some was and some wasn’t. The weather and the power outage were not. The rest was.

I ended up spending a lot of time working on editing my book (it’s printed out so I didn’t need my computer for that, Just some light.

I went out to walk a short walk later in the day. It was warm but not real heat training.

I got so much done on my book that it felt really good. I needed that time to “be with” my book.

I felt gratitude for all i have that makes my life easier. It also reminded me of the times in my life when this wasn’t such a big deal. We didn’t have all these electronics so when the sun came up we could still read or write something until the power was restored.

I am grateful for that experience yesterday. It also reminded me that this upcoming race can be full of surprises and my only course of action is to deal with what I can control and figure out how to deal with what I can’t.

Who’d have thought that a short, 5 hour power outage could teach so much about life?

All our experiences can do this.