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?”

Daily Gratitude: This is why it takes awhile for the agitated appearance to dissipate when someone who says they’ve changed their mind and now agree with you. If you let yourself, you’ll find yourself questioning the validity of their statements and not believing them. You have to give their body time to metabolize and release those chemicals. Haven’t you ever noticed that you might be frightened of something, let’s say a loud noise in the house, and your heart rate skyrockets. Then you find out that the cat just knocked something off the counter and it wasn’t someone breaking in after all. Now your thought will be “dumb cat – scared the dickens out of me”. But your heart rate, although starting to slow, is still faster than normal. You’ve heard the expression- “just take a deep breath and relax” (while you’re thinking “yeah right, buddy, you can have my cat and then see how calm you are”). It isn’t just an expression- the deep breath will help to soothe your vagus nerve which then helps soothe all of you. Next time you are in a heated discussion just try to remember that thoughts are electricity and can change in the blink of an eye. But emotions are chemical reactions and they take time to change.

Daily Gratitude: We definitely need to remember this quote every single day right now. There is too much anger and hate – on both sides. Why not concentrate on doing small, kind and caring things for others. Make small changes (ripples) with this kindness and love. It will spread. As long as you don’t negate it with even more anger and hatred. You know. Like the person who acts so religious and does everything right on Sunday at church but for the other 6 days is an arrogant, holier than thou person who is mean and rude. You don’t want your emotion filled rhetoric (and even axtions) to derail all the good you can do to help others. There are a lot more people right now needing assistance. I bet you know at least one person on Medicaid that will now be in deep trouble and maybe even die. What can you do to help that person? How much will being indignant help them? Put your energy into love, kindness and caring.