Daily Gratitude: Wow. I always thought Colin Powell was brilliant. And even if he never said anything other than this quote, it would be enough. How often do we get tied up in the mixture of fact and emotion? That’s like taking a healthy meal and then adding all the processed foods that are quick and easy to use. How healthy is the result? One of the hardest, yet most useful things we can learn how to do is remove emotion (our ego) from our arguments. I am working on that but have a really long way to go. But if we can remove the strong emotions, then we have a better chance of really understanding what the problem is and what can rationally be done about it. We need people who could do that in our country but right now it seems to be being run simply by emotion -no matter which side you’re on. And that right there is a big part of the issue- we have picked sides. Like a buffet or like a bunch of schoolyard kids picking a basketball team. Why can’t we all come together? This is not a political post but an attempt to get us to look at what “we” (each of us) have at stake in everything we feel passionate about. I could just as easily be writing about the Yankees given how passionate most baseball fans are – you know “my team is better than your team”. Key words here – “my” and “your”. That’s the ego being attached to our arguments. Try to spot this in your everyday thoughts and conversations and see what you can do about it.

Daily Gratitude: I don’t know about being the key to eternal youth but I do know that being in love with life, will make the life you’re experiencing now much better and happier. I’ve had my first volunteer shift at Abode in(the best place to be your last place) and even though many would think “oh my, how morbid and depressing it must be to be around dying propel”, it isn’t. It’s one of the best ways to feel alive. Being with someone at these very intimate moments is a gift you can’t just order on Amazon. It is, perhaps, THE most intimate experience you can have. Your energy and essence joins with that of those around you and you can feel it. To look in the eyes of someone who’s dying truly is the window to their soul. It also opens your heart and soul letting you know how fragile, yet beautiful life is. You will never look at your life the same again.

Daily Gratitude: This is another great way to say “control the controllables”. There are a few phrases I have learned which have positively impacted my life and that is one of them. I now stop, take a breath and ask if “this” is something I can do anything about. If it is, I move on to what I can do and then either take an action or make a plan of action. If I can’t, I consciously decide to focus on something else until the situation changes such that I can do something. Or if it’s never going to change, I find whatever means I can to toss it out of my mind. I recently had a health finding that could have potentially been bad news. I had to wait for several different things to happen before we would know any answers. Even a year ago I would have spent 95% of my time worrying about what it was and what would happen. This time, though, I sat myself down and reminded me that I couldn’t do squat until there was clarification. Could I hurry along any of the clarifying processes? No. So I deferred to my two favorite sayings (and primarily “everything always works out for me”) so that I would say that repeatedly to get my thoughts off anything about the issue. It took work but eventually I wasn’t even thinking about it and if I did, it didn’t take long to distract my active little mind. I enjoyed life. I am so grateful I learned and PRACTICED this. As with anything worthwhile, it takes work. But the results definitely are rewarding.