Daily Gratitude: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

If you go into every incident or situation with this attitude, you’ll be amazed at what you might learn.

Even “experts” are able to learn more and more about their field. It might be a new perspective because of a way someone else looked at the situation. Or maybe a new question was asked. Most people who have extensive experience in a field are actually pretty humble and know that the best ideas come from finding out more about the subject they love.

Imagine what you can discover if you look at something thinking you know nothing about it. We get into so much trouble prejudging situations and people. When we do that, we close off the creative portions of our brain. Instead we should want those areas to be as open as possible. You may get thoughts and ideas you never thought possible.

As usual I recommend you practice or try this out. Maybe you have kids and you can enter into a conversation with them with the know nothing attitude. Let them enlighten you.

Do this with your significant other or even just a friend. You both can do it and then exchange thoughts about what you learn and what surprised you.

Try it!

Daily Gratitude: “A life run entirely by the imagined verdicts of others is not your life.”

Why are we so driven by the need for approval? It’s thought to be because we are a tribal species and if the rest of the tribe didn’t approve of you or what you were doing, you were ostracized, kicked out of the tribe and left to fend for yourself. Way back when that was a recipe for disaster. Nowadays it may feel like a psychological disaster but you will survive physically.

Our primitive brains don’t realize this though. So, they continue to operate as they did in ancient times.

Once we recognize this and remove the emotional overlay from any “possibility” for rejection, we can analyze the situation and then figure out what the best thing to do is.

The key is taking the time (the “pause” I write about so much), allowing yourself to feel whatever is stirring up inside you, and then putting on your analytical cap and figuring out whether you really really really need that other person’s approval. Focus, too, on the word “need”. You may want their approval but that’s a totally different thing than “needing” it.

Once you’ve looked at it that way, you should be able to decide what you need to do or not do regardless of what others think.

Pause, Feel, Analyze.

Daily Gratitude: “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”

Isn’t it wonderful how some people can sum up key points so succinctly?

This exemplifies the rut we put ourselves into. We’re so hung up on getting this or getting that and we never stop, look around, and say “wow I’m thankful for all that I have. It doesn’t really matter if I get this other thing I thought I wanted.” Have you ever heard anyone say that?

If we think about what this quote says it is think differently about what we’re after. It’s funny but I almost felt sadness thinking about how something that had been coveted once has now been dismissed and essentially abandoned when something newer comes into our minds.

And even sadder is that we skip from one to the other so quickly that one could almost wonder what it was that attracted us or was it just the need to have something new ?

Next time you have this burning desire or even any desire to get something, can you take a day or two to calm your brain and then ask if you really want that particular thing. In the one or two days, that desire may have dissipated and you can be satisfied with your “old stuff” (even if it’s just a few weeks old).

While you’re looking around to see what you already have, remember to practice gratitude too.