Daily Gratitude: I think we could be better at this if we didn’t tend to analyze so much. “Why me?” “Why did this happen?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “What did I do wrong?” Etc. If we could just “declare it good” (thanks Catherine Ponder), we could begin to see the good. Sometimes if we just “let go” (another difficult concept for us control people), we will see that this event is actually the best for us. When I was taught to say “Everything always works out for me” in the 80s, i was able to look back at my life and say “oh yeah, I thought this was the worst possible thing that could happen but it actually turned out great.” For example, I would not be writing this (or probably even thinking about it) if i hadn’t torn my ACL playing softball in 1993. One misstep – literally – and my life changed. Did I know that as I was having to be helped off the field? Heck no. I, as with most of us, couldn’t see any further than “darn, I’m done with softball for this year”. I didn’t know all the wonderful things it would lead to. But no matter what happens to you, it’s imperative that you retain the moral character that is “you”. Don’t let things feel so unbearable that you lose sight of all your core values. Be grateful for what you are going through because I guarantee you someone else has it much worse. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past few months it’s that.