Daily Gratitude: If nothing else will get you to change how you view things, this should.

Wouldn’t it be special if you could realize that whatever happened to you was for the best? You might not be able to see it right now but just that faith that everything is always working out for you could make you smile no matter what.

I’ve mentioned that having that horrific post Shingles nerve pain may have saved my life. Isn’t it strange how something that makes you want to end your life can end up saving it. Had I not had that severe pain, I wouldn’t have been on gabapentin. Had I not been on gabapentin, my kidney disease would most likely not have been diagnosed until I needed dialysis. So 13 months of desperation ended up turning out for the best.

What’s going on in your life right now that you might want to try to develop a different perspective on?

Daily Gratitude: We knew to believe this more. I don’t think it’s saying that learning is wrong. Learning is the basis for all you think. But the most important learning comes from doing something. You could make a case for that action being your final exam. I could have taken tons of courses on how to suture someone and tied the knots. But the first time you hold the needle in your hand, it doesn’t look at all like what’s in the books.

All that you read and absorb has to be for some purpose. Ask yourself “why” you’re reading this or watching that video or TV show? Ask what you’re learning, if anything. And if your answer is yes, then ask what you’re going to do with that info.

Have the things you’ve read or learned fueled a fire within you? Are you more passionate about something you’ve studied? If not, what makes you excited and why aren’t you pursuing it.

Don’t just sit idly by while the days pass by. Get yourself some passion and then go out and take action.

Daily Gratitude: So much of what haunts us is monsters from the past. From when we were children and were helpless. Adults were gigantic and some of them remain just as large in our minds today.

It was “miles” just to get from the house to the sidewalk. And who knew was hiding in the bushes along the way.

The loud voices might not have been aimed at you but you didn’t know that then. The whole world seemed to revolve around you so, of course, they were yelling at you. Any raising of voices now makes you cringe, thinking someone is mad at you. You did something wrong.

You were told not to trust people. Now someone is being nice to you. You wonder why? What is it that they want from you?

What other thoughts, feelings and behaviors of yours can you see have come from your past? Once you can identify the source, there’s a way to correct that. It takes some work and I recommend IFS (internal family systems) as it’s the easiest way I’ve found. But there are other ways for you to respond in the present, not the past.