Daily Gratitude: I’m sure you’ve heard people tout the power of visualization. Athletes are always taking about how they visualized standing on the podium at the Olympics. I definitely believe in the power of visualization and encourage people to employ it. But what just came to mind recently was that worry is visualization too. Think about something you’ve been worried about – either now or in the past. What degree of detail did you put into that worry? How were you “seeing” what would happen (what you feared would happen anyway)? Our brains naturally take our words and convert them into pictures. That is visualization. Do you want to be bringing all that bad stuff you’re seeing into existence? Of course not. So try imagining the opposite and go into great detail about the good parts too. Detail and repetition are the keys to visualization. Do you want to manifest something you want (positive visualization) or something you don’t want (worry). You can control what you think about and what you “see” with your mind’s eye.

Daily Gratitude: I probably talk about this one too much but that’s because it’s one I have to keep reminding myself of. For some reason we don’t see anything as a success unless it’s either a) big and flashy (obvious) or b) complete and able to be crossed off our list. But success is actually making it through each day. There are some of you who will think that’s BS and others who will shout “yeah!” because they have been (or are in) that kind of situation. When I had the post shingles nerve pain (postherpetic neuralgia), making it through each day was a bigger accomplishment than anything else I’ve ever done. Did I celebrate that? No – I was too worried about when the next surge of electricity would come. Fast forward 9 years to yesterday when I was out on my training walk and i had to stop at a light at 3.5 miles. I realized how important it was for me to be grateful that at least up to that point none of the physical problems that have popped up lately hadn’t bothered me that morning. It didn’t matter what night show up later. What mattered was that I felt good right then and there. That was a success and it was my “job” to express gratitude for that success. Yes, later my foot and knee started to let me know they were there. But did that take away from the earlier success and the happiness that went with expressing my gratitude? For once the answer is “no”. I could still feel the excitement of that recognition and it was fun and made me want to repeat the process. One tiny little thing forged how my whole day went. I could have chosen to ignore it but fortunately I didn’t. What can you consider a success today?

Daily Gratitude: I found this an interesting and pertinent quote. The most important part is that we can control how we feel and joy is a feeling. I’ve heard people talk about how they’ve been amongst the most poverty stricken people and yes they were so happy and that it didn’t take much for them to be joyous. That is remarkable but definite evidence of the validity of this statement. Haven’t you had times when something you usually enjoy “gets on your nerves”? But then again in a few days it’s back to making you happy again? Take some small disappointment and see if you can change how you feel about it. As I was driving to Tennessee i practiced that when drivers zoomed in and out of the traffic or cut me off. My first reaction was aggravation but as soon as i recognized this I said “their actions are not in my control but I can choose not to let it bother me”. It was easy to shrug it off then. By the time I got to Tennessee it became so much easier and quicker. I need to keep practicing but since I felt so good about doing it, it’s worth practicing with all things. We’ll see what happens.