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.

Daily Gratitude: We all have stories but did you ever stop to think how much your stories rule your life. Your brain receives information and as it’s processing it, it’s trying to find a story in its database that it can compare the info too. That story depends on your childhood and all your experiences. Some of us have reactive stories. Some have loving stories. Some have both. The important thing is to realize that our reactions/responses to any single thing will be based on our history- our story! Once you recognize that, you can stop and think “whoa, what story am I telling myself here. After all it is just a story – it’s something from the past. So, I can change it if I need or want to”. There’s that awareness step again. Once you’re aware, you can now change it. You can give more – give what you didn’t get. Remember, though, that you have to be aware of what it is you didn’t get.

Daily Gratitude: So beautiful…and key – heart open, quiet mind! In my training at Abode and as a death doula, they teach the “don’t know mind”. To me, this is more than just an open mind. I see an open mind as one that has at least one opinion about something, but is willing to “listen and hear the facts” and possibly change that opinion. The “don’t know mind” has no opinions because it recognizes it doesn’t have enough knowledge (facts) to have an opinion. So it’s willing to just go in, look and listen and then maybe form a concept about what’s going on. Can you think of instances where you’ve had an open mind vs having a “don’t know mind?”