Daily Gratitude: I can attest to this fact. It doesn’t take much for my imagination to try to be like Walt Disney’s. There’s a fierce competition going on there. One little thought and off it goes. As I was preparing for my trip to Tennessee for Vol State, any little symptom became a major crisis. I really need to find a way to combat this. Or at least derail it once it starts. Emmet Fox wrote “The Golden Key” and advises that we should immediately stop thinking about whatever negative thought has come to mind and put it on something spiritual. This takes control and intent but in the past when I’ve been able to practice it, it has worked well. Once it’s gone too far, though, it takes immense power to pull the mind away from that negative sequence because that’s exactly what has happened- that one negative thought has started rolling down the mountainside and has built up momentum and it’s become an avalanche. I, personally, need some graphic visualization to help me stop that sequence of events. I am looking at all I love in order to find something specific I can turn my focus to immediately upon engagement with that negativity. How do you all manage to stop the progression? Let us know in the comments.

Daily Gratitude: Take a moment to think about this. How often have we made some problem worse by constantly thinking about it, or trying to “figure it out”, or wonder why it would happen to us, etc? As they say “people in glass houses”… i do this way too often. Instead of saying “ok this is the problem. These are the resources I have. This is what I can do to solve this problem.”, i sit around and worry about it, therefore not accomplishing one single thing and the adversity is (to no one’s surprise) still right there in front of me. Why? Because I haven’t thought about it objectively nor have I taken any action. How many times have you felt poorly or had something physically bother you yet you haven’t called for a doctor’s appointment. You’ve just continued on spending a good part of your day (and night) conjuring up all sorts of scenarios with your vivid imagination. Then what happens? Usually you start to feel worse. And you certainly don’t get a lot done in your life while you’re worrying. I think we don’t realize the resources we have within our grasp and that’s another reason we don’t solve our problems in a timely manner. It would help to take an internal inventory of our resources starting with your resilience. Another thing that would help is the practice of asking others for help. I bet you’re cringing when you read that. But it is an important skill that we aren’t taught. In fact, we’re taught the opposite. But just think about how good you feel when you help others. Wouldn’t it make sense that it’s nice to allow others that same joy and good feeling by helping you? Think of all they could learn by helping you through the adversity. Adversity in your life? Face it and work on it don’t brood about it. Ps I know there are things that happen that really suck and do so for a long time. This is not a Pollyanna approach. I just want to encourage you to spend your energy on the solution not the worry.

Daily Gratitude: It’s so important that we find the courage to “step out” when exciting or new things come our way. I finally learned this and regret that I lacked that brave spark within for so many decades. I guess, though, I didn’t really lack it – it was just buried by all the baggage of my childhood that took me forever to discard. Kind of like a hoarder who eventually has their house cleaned out only to find $10,000 somewhere at the bottom of the pile. It had been there all the time but no one, especially not the hoarder, knew it. This is an excellent reason to always be in the process of decluttering and getting rid of all that’s not needed – the physical AND mental clutter. There are tons of articles about how to declutter your house and your belongings but how many articles do you see about going through all the crap in your mind. It shouldn’t be hard to visualize your mind like a teenage boy’s closet. Everything he owns (except his electronics of course) is crammed into that closet. Clean and dirty mixed together. Fresh and smelly on the floor in one pile. And then there’s the shelf or shelves. What’s loaded onto them? What did the closet even look like long before? When was the last time you took inventory of your mind? Listing your habits, your beliefs, your loves, your relationships, and if you’re into IFS, your parts? I will bet the answer for most of you is never. Why not start now. You may think you know what you want to keep and discard but until you list them out (take that inventory), you’ll never really know. And worse yet, without a list it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find the interconnections. What thought or belief is related to another and what thought or belief is connected to a habit? It’s those interconnections that can do you in. This takes quite a bit of effort and I think that’s why most people don’t do it. But the benefits are phenomenal if you take inventory and then examine it….and then finally take action to revise what it is you see that needs fixing or changing.