Daily Gratitude: I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of 3 legged dogs (and sometimes even 2 legged) running around, playing as if nothing was wrong. Or better yet, some amazing humans born without legs becoming great wrestlers or keynote speakers. I will never forget one day I was in line behind a young man who had had amputations of both arms and he was in line at a store. He had no prostheses either. He could have just given up. All of these beings could have just given up. It reminded me to do what mothers do when they first see their babies – they count to see if their precious child has all 10 fingers and all 10 toes. The mom is so grateful when she sees them all there. But when they aren’t, she doesn’t just “put the baby back and get another one”. She loves what is there. That is what we should do too. That mom will find a way for her baby to overcome. She finds another way to fly. So when things seem wrong, remember something or someone you’ve seen in the past who’s been struggling but figured out a solution. Then tell yourself you can do that too. It may take a bit of thought and it may also take, God forbid, you asking for help, but you will find a way.

Daily Gratitude: Can you read this enough times that you understand it? I mean truly understand it. No, I’m not making fun of you. I just know from experience that it’s easy to read something without really seeing it. Most people think that excessive stress leads to illness and I agree. But often what leads to that excessive stress is the need to “get it done right now” (or yesterday would be better). It’s rushing from this activity to the next and then to another. No room to breathe. Are all these activities necessary? If they involve our kids, what are we really teaching them is important? Why do they have to be into everything? Is that healthy for them? I was just sitting here thinking about how I don’t feel great this morning (no, nothing major is wrong. I’m just old) and then I realized there could have been plenty of mornings when I felt that way in the past BUT I was always moving on to the next task. I never allowed myself to feel anything let alone not feel well. Of course that’s what landed me in the hospital for 5 weeks in 2017. I never stopped to think about what was going on in my life. Even the post shingles pain hadn’t made me stop to analyze that and let me tell you that pain was horrific and constant. How numb can we get ourselves? And then how dumb is it to be numb? In my case it was very dumb. I had missed all the signals and messages and there were many. I didn’t know how to slow down and be patient. So the universe taught me. Why don’t you look at your life and see where you could use a bit more patience? Then see what you can do about it? Hopefully preventing you from becoming a patient.

Daily Gratitude: You don’t even have to have a goal of wanting to he extraordinary to use this “tip”. Next time you think about doing something, think of whether there is just a little more you can do. If not, that’s ok. At least thinking about it will get those “brain muscles” working. If there is something, though, do it but just file it away in your mind or in a private journal as “extras”. Don’t brag about it or even mention it to anyone. Just do it. The more you try that little extra, the better it will feel and the better something feels, the more you’ll want to do it. Write about it privately and write how it made you feel. Then think about what tiny bit more you can do and so on. Keep this up and your life and your attitude will markedly improve.