Daily Gratitude: As everyone seems in a tizzy (either a happy tizzy or a frightened tizzy), I feel it’s important to put things in perspective. As I may have mentioned, I’m studying to be an end of life doula (a death doula) and although it’s still early in my training, I have found that helping people at the end of their life is much more rewarding than all the other noise. The other day I interacted with a woman younger than me who was at the end. Her body had more heat emanating from it than I’d ever felt. But when I held her hand, I felt the life energy she once had. I was only in there for about 10 minutes and she was essentially non-responsive. She died that evening. But she touched my life in a way that no one ever has. As a physician I’ve seen people die but this is a much different scenario than in a hospital. You can feel the peace and you can be grateful she has had some impact on your life. We all have the ability to impact others and be impacted by them. But we have to find the quiet and let it all in. The way we are right now, we can’t do that because there is no quiet. I am grateful to this woman and for this class for helping me see what’s truly important in life. You can apply the same concepts to people in your life who are experiencing unknown or bad diagnoses. Touch them but also let them touch you.

Daily Gratitude: They say some people are born winners. And I’ve heard the opposite too – some are born losers. it’s really neither. It’s how we think that creates our circumstances and our circumstances can be changed. Panic, worry, anger, fear, doubt. All these thoughts and emotions do is stir up your body’s control system. It’s very difficult to win in a hectic environment (internal or external or both). If that’s where you find yourself, then step back and try to regulate your inner being so that you can get back up to fight again. That is a true winner. Regroup and reassess to know what you need to do. Revise your strategy and see what happens. You may need to revise it again. Just keep at it.

Daily Gratitude: You’ve heard “it’s the start that stops most people”. This quote is just as true. Why? Why would taking even just a small baby step be so important? Wouldn’t the end, the crowning achievement be the most? No. You can’t achieve that end moment, the success…..if you don’t start. Conquering inertia is one of the hardest things to do so celebrate when you begin taking action on a project, celebrating that final success can now occur. It couldn’t happen if it’s never started right? Don’t defeat yourself before you have a chance. Take action. Take that very first step and know it was the most important!