Daily Gratitude: I saw this question on a Reddit post when a developer was discussing why he was charging for the app he developed. I thought it was a good question for us to examine.

I believe the answer is “yes”. Value is not necessarily inextricably tied to money. The dictionary says it’s “the worth, importance, or usefulness of something”; “It’s the quality that makes something good, desirable, or significant, from the dollar amount of an item to moral principles like honesty. “

I personally believe that we should all strive to make important things free, good enough and sustainable.

I’m not against making money because we all have to survive but I do think that there’s a certain point where we don’t really need to make any more money. So why not put effort at that point into creating or providing things that are free and are good enough to help people.

Helping others really is in our “genes” as way back when we needed others to keep us all alive.

We are in conditions today that should encourage us to pull together (remember my post on community) and help each other out.

Mankind is at its best when there’s a natural disaster. People come from all over to help anyone in need. No matter their color, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, etc. Doesn’t that sound like it would be nice even without a natural disaster?

What can you offer for free? What has value for you that you can give or offer to others?

What do you value in your life?

Daily Gratitude: I love this. The way it separates these two issues is the best way to think about it.

You have to decide if something that’s going on in your life can be changed. You have to find out what’s really going on, how and why it happened, and whether or not you think you can do something about it. You may have to try various things before you know if it can be changed or not. It’s a process that requires logic and reasoning (and we all know how much I do that- NOT). You can combine some emotion but logic has to prevail.

On the other hand, if you don’t know that there’s a problem or issue, then you can’t do anything about it – you can’t face it.

This is why it’s so important when you’re examining your life and life around you, you must start with yourself. I had a lot of problems with relationships and knew I must have messed them up but I didn’t know how or how to fix it. I was looking outside myself even with the help of therapists. It took IFS and its basic concepts of all things beginning inside of you for me to understand and take action – on myself. At that point things could be changed because I faced them.

It’s a hard reality but it’s essential for growth.

Daily Gratitude: I talk about this a lot and that’s because it’s so important.

Stress kills and before it does, it makes your life totally miserable.

We need to take a deep breath – or maybe a few days of deep breaths before we respond to “bad” things. We have to remember that everything (good or bad) is temporary (this, too, shall pass).

We also need to remember that “nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so” (Shakespeare).

Yes I tell you this all the time. Why do I keep doing it? Because our training and experience tends to lead our thinking in the other direction – “oh my what am I going to to? What is going to happen? etc.” That is our nature.

2025 showed me that getting upset and harried my something was a waste of energy.

Vol state was a disaster for me. I dwelled on that. Then along came the journey run over Labor Day. Boom, I fractured my clavicle and vol state was no longer a big deal.

Learning how to operate with one hand/arm (and my non-dominant one at that) became the focus of my attention.

Then came medical issues that were more significant than my busted collarbone. That healed and I was then focused on the medical stuff and it was about 3 different medical things.

Then my 6 day race over the holidays where my tendon kept me from doing all that I wanted to. I forgot the other things.

Vol state? Oh yeah I remember something about that but it seems as if it was an eternity ago.

And of course on top of all this is the mess in our country right now.

Perspective I’d say is key.

Fortunately as the months passed in 2025 I experienced the reality of “this too shall pass” so choosing to just deal with what is happening without the emotional baggage is so much easier.

Practice my friends – practice and use perspective. Look for people worse off than you and it will help you choose thoughts that won’t add to your stres.