Daily Gratitude: This kind of goes along with the idea of making a bullet list of happy moments. When you wake up in the morning, plan for a happy day. How? By declaring that you are going to experience everything that happens to you in a wonderful light and thank the universe for any and all lessons, or gifts, it’s going to give you today. Remember that things aren’t bad or good, they just are. It’s how we respond and interpret them that will determine our happiness. So wouldn’t it be better and more productive to look at anything and everything that happens to you and say out loud (or to yourself) “I declare it good!” Catherine Ponder taught that many years even before i learned about metaphysics and you may have heard others adopt it (like Jocko Willink’s “good”). When something lasts over decades and is passed down AND adopted, you can pretty much tell that it’s valuable information. So, start today as a new day, declare everything that happens as “good” (practice doing it even with the things that you already deem to be good so that it becomes a habit) and keep track of your happiness bullets.

Daily Gratitude: It’s so easy to compare ourselves to others and see how we don’t “measure up”. We rarely take time to compare and say “wow, I’m not so bad at that” or – gasp – “I’m actually pretty good at that”. Why not? Have you ever asked yourself why you don’t use comparison to identify the good things in you? What would happen if you did that? Could you possibly find things that you are proud of? Even if you didn’t have the courage to blatantly tell others, could you at least admit the good qualities or achievements to yourself? Could you stop “wishing you weren’t x,y, or z” or “hoping you could do or have ‘that’ “, whatever ‘that’ is? Can you give yourself a little test? Take a few days and track how often you are using comparison (isn’t that the same as judging but with a different name?). Every time you notice you’re comparing (and beware that it can show up in subtle ways), dissect what you’re doing and how you could think or feel differently about the situation. See if this can change the way you look at things around you….and how you look at your own life now.

Daily Gratitude: This is such an important point when thinking about how we can be happier and lead a more fulfilled life. When something has happened, there is absolutely nothing you can do to change it. It’s in the past and has been carved into stone, so to speak. So, it does no good to entertain “what if” or “if only” thoughts. Accept it and move to the next key step. How do you feel about what happened? Are you bitter, angry, resentful? If so, how are those thoughts and emotions making you feel? Is your life better when you continue to hold on to the fact that you wish “it” had happened differently? Or can you accept it as already done and start to concentrate on what you can do about whatever it is? You can’t change “it” but you can change how you feel about it and you certainly can change what you do about it. Perhaps, though, the only thing you need to do is just accept that it happened and turn the page. You can change your feelings and then your subsequent actions. You’d be surprised how much better you’ll feel when you start to focus on what you need to do next. That’s why I try to look at things with a “so what? What’s next?” Attitude.