Daily Gratitude: What thoughts go through your mind all day long? Do you ever catalogue them to see what patterns they fall into? Are they “what if” or “if only” thoughts, or are they “wow how fortunate I am”, “I’m so grateful”, “I want the best for everyone else” thoughts? Are you happy? Is there any area of your life that isn’t bringing you happiness and joy? Take a look at it and see if it fits in some sort of pattern throughout your life? If so, it is probably due to thought patterns you learned when you were younger. I was taught “you can’t trust anyone”. So you can imagine how that has affected my relationships in my life. I have had to be diligent and work hard to overcome that. And it does take work. It’s easy to fall back into old habits and ways of thinking. The important part is to recognize the pattern, then pay attention to your thoughts and actions as soon as they appear in your brain. Then step back and ask yourself “why am I thinking this? Where is it coming from? Is it really true? Do I want to believe this or is it a mindless activity without thought?” Answering these questions will help you because they have made you pause and because now you know you have to make a decision. It’s your choice as to whether you want to continue to buy into the same old manner of thinking. Do you want to continue been unhappy (in this category) or do you want to try something new?