Daily Gratitude: Having just finished my training as a death doula, i thought this was such an important insight. At the end of life is when you’ll know how precious life is. Why not learn to appreciate it now even if things aren’t going that great right now. Take a few seconds to look up and simply say “I am grateful for my life”. Try to do that several times a day. Take some deep breaths and feel the life coming into your lungs and circulating throughout your body. Think about how this happens over and over every second and minute of your life. You don’t even have to be involved. It just happens. What a miracle. Know that like the sun, things will go up and down. There is change every day and we just take it for granted. Let’s pay more attention and show our gratitude each time we do.

Daily Gratitude: I wonder how many people know how truly special Helen Keller was. Her wisdom is greater than most and look at her handicaps. She was the most optimistic person you’ll probably ever hear about too. This quote is precious and strikes me even more since I’m doing the end of life doula work. When you’re dying people won’t remember (I hope) how big your house was. They’ll definitely remember how kind you were and how you treated them (we all know Maya Angelou’s quote about that). Instead of working to “get things”, let’s work harder to care for others and to be kind to everyone. That’s what really matters. As a friend put it, she’s responding differently now that she’s looking at everything feeling that everyone has good intentions and is doing the best they can even if it’s coming out wrong. If we knew the background of the people that were judging to be unreasonable, we might feel differently. So let’s just assume they don’t have a desire to be mean. Let’s see if we can feel what’s in their hearts.

Daily Gratitude: This is so true. And often we spend so much time thinking about it without taking any action. Even if action is taken, it is important that we stay present. This allows us to get grounded and reset periodically. Even the most forward movers need to stay grounded and sometimes need to reset. In addition, it’s often hard to know we need to reset because we’re not in the present moment. Knowing where you are and where you want to go allows you to adopt tha proper strategy. This is why meditation and breathing techniques is key. Where are you right now?