Daily Gratitude: Have you ever noticed this? It’s as if you can get on the “good train” and each station you stop at allows more and more good to board the train. The bad stuff is on the other platform waiting to board someone else’s train (and there are plenty of riders on that one). Of course, a lot of this is perspective, too. You must “declare it good” no matter what you encounter. When we do the race across Tennessee every year some people judge us by how we look and that’s not very good. But there are so many others that can see beneath our grungy exterior and see the good within. They aren’t swayed by appearances. That’s how we should look at everything that happens in our lives. Don’t just determine “good-bad” based on how it looks. Make up your mind that everything either is good already or will lead to something good no matter what it looks like right now. Bless it, praise it, caress it; marinate it and let it rise if you’re into cooking and baking; let the seed grow its root system and then pop up a bud if you want a nature example. It will be good. We just have to care for it as if it already is good. Just as a 2 year old child is good deep within despite the antics of the terrible twos. Do we hate the child because it had one temper tantrum? Find a way to look at things in your life and practice that with the easy things. Then it becomes a habit and it won’t take any effort to declare everything good!

Daily Gratitude: Have you ever noticed this? One day, you’re looking at or thinking about something and have a certain point of view. Maybe it’s not a real favorable view because it’s new to you (and after all, you’re not a big fan of change). But, you’re stuck with it. So, the more you deal with it and see how it actually works (going deeper than that first blush), you quietly say “hm. That’s not so bad. I see why it was done this way”. Once you’ve done this deeper dive, you’ve been able to adjust how you feel about it. If you’re an analyzer like me (and I don’t recommend it- it can drive you nuts), you’ve developed a different relationship and your point of view has changed. I bet you know of a person (or at least a story of) who has been less than interested in another person upon first meeting. Then as you watch the days go by, you can see them becoming oh so much closer. What happened? They got to know each other so their points of view changed. Next time you’re griping or upset about something, tell yourself you’ll give it a chance, you’ll get to know it (or them) and after a set period of time, you’ll reassess how you feel. I bet you’ll even surprise yourself.

Daily Gratitude: What would happen inside of people’s heads (because they’d never admit it to others) if there was no like button (or any of the other ones either) AND there was no way for others to comment? What do you think they would post, if anything? Have you ever thought about it and wondered if anyone would read your posts and more importantly, you’d never know what they were thinking, would you? Do you really know now? You see what they write but is that what they are actually thinking? Is there a wisp of anxiety thinking about that? Wouldn’t it be nice to just see what others are doing or what they are going through? And if they were having a hard time, you could – gasp – pick up the phone or send an email or message or something a bit more personal. That would require a bit of effort and memory though to remember beyond the next scroll. Wouldn’t that mean more to the other person (or to you if it’s you who needed the support)? How much support is really given by hitting one of those reaction buttons? They’ve even taken away the personalization of the birthday greeting by already typing it out for you so all you have to do is hit “post”. That is pathetic in my opinion. It doesn’t mean anything. Think about these things next time you scroll here. I know this isn’t a popular thought but I think it’s something we should all reflect upon.