Daily Gratitude: How often do we sit and fester over not being loved or not being loved “enough”? Do we sit around and wonder “have I loved enough?”, or, “does my mother know how much I love her – do I show her every day?” Why don’t we spend more time contemplating the second set of questions? Have you ever taken stock of how you show love? And to whom? And maybe also who’s on the list of those you say you love but rarely take the time to show it? Can you create a challenge for yourself (or a game for those of us, including me, who are averse to the concept of all these challenges) that will increase the number of times you show your love for people or for certain people AND better yet, including more people in the list of those you conscientiously will show love? Keep track of your efforts and constantly ask yourself how you can do it better.

Daily Gratitude: As usual it’s all about how you perceive things. Remember that William Shakespeare said “nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so”. Let’s say you’re moving along your life and everything is going fine. Next thing you know there’s a “road block” up ahead. At the least this will slow your progress down. At the worst it will totally stop you in your tracks. In the majority of ways it’s up to you and how you respond. Are you going to let it totally derail you? Or, are you going to stop and say “mmmm, let’s see what we have here. How can I use this to make me a better person or improve my life. Or, maybe even how to improve someone else’s life? How can you share lessons from this experience to help others navigate similar situations more easily? If you make this a constant question in your mind (whether things are good or bad), you can’t go wrong. We are all meant to be teachers and coaches. How many people can you influence with your handling of situations. And you don’t have to write a book or start a corporation to do that. People watch the actions and behavior of others whether you know it or not. Remember that too and let it guide your actions today…and every day.

Daily Gratitude: Playing the “when” game is almost as destructive as the “what if” game. “I’ll be happy WHEN I lose 10 pounds”. Not to be morbid but what if you get hit by a car the day after your idol (the scale) pronounces that you’ve hit that magical (arbitrary) number and so today you should be happy. Suppose you get fired that day or have a big fight with your spouse. Are you happy? Did losing that 10 pounds negate all the lousy feelings and perhaps consequences of the fight or the firing? I bet not. That 10 pounds doesn’t seem to matter at all in the grand scheme of things. Instead, work on being happy now. Doesn’t the smile on your loved one’s face make you tingle and feel so blessed? Saying “hi” with a smile to a friend who is depressed might totally make their day. Isn’t that worth more than a number on the scale? “When I” is like tomorrow. It rarely comes and when it does, it’s immediately replaced by another “when”. Live your life in the now, not in the “when”.