Daily Gratitude: You become what you think about so if you anticipate trouble, it’s much more likely that it will come – the more you think about that trouble, the higher your “trouble vibrations” will be. This is the basis of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Even when things are not going well, do your best to find the sunlight no matter how well hidden.

I can’t help but think of the family of foxes that before this year pretty much used my backyard as their “getaway” resort. The female would come in the late morning and early afternoon. She’d find a place directly in the sun, lie down, and go to sleep.

In a little while she’d get up and move to a new spot. She was following the sun. That’s what we should be doing. When it starts to get dark (the trouble you’re experiencing), we need to start looking where the sun is shining next. Keep moving. Keep looking. You will find it.

Daily Gratitude: This is an important concept given all the chaos swirling around us. We must remain calm. Remember that when someone is angry or anxious, their frontal lobe shuts down and the primitive regions of the brain are all that’s functioning (the brain interprets anger and anxiety as danger signs and goes into protective mode).

When your frontal lobe shuts down your cognitive function shuts down. You can’t really face and challenges in a productive manner. You need a productive calm demeanor to conquer those challenges.

This is the time for you to learn calming techniques if you haven’t already. There’s breathing techniques, meditation, walking meditation, yoga. Etc. Start employing them now and make it a habit- not just for when you’re anxious or angry but on a daily basis. That will help them become more natural and effective.

The goal is to remain calm.

Daily Gratitude: What great guidance this quote is. It isn’t a black and white missive you see so much of.

What do I mean by that? Many people proclaim that you shouldn’t be in the past at all. I don’t think that’s useful advice nor is it realistic. The past and it memories often hold excellent lessons for us.

What this says, though, is that if you are going to “revisit” the past, monitor how much time you’re spending there and be aware of when it seems to be interfering with getting things done in the here and now.

Just as we need to recognize how much time we spend “scrolling” in social media, we need to do the same process when we find ourselves “scrolling” in our past.

The “past” includes thinking about things you think you did wrong or what you should or shouldn’t have done or said last week, last month, last night, etc. If there’s something productive that comes from looking in that direction, fine but second guessing and condemnation are just like all the annoying ads that seem to pop up endlessly in your other scrolling activities. They do nothing useful.

Can you “exit” these ruminations or are you caught in either of these addictions – social media or the past?