Daily Gratitude: I would bet that everyone reading this is shaking their head in agreement with this statement.

It exemplifies the need for letting go of so much. After all, your needs and desires could be completely different tomorrow (or even this afternoon) so why spend so much time “planning” for tomorrow or next year?

This is not to say you should just live your life moment by moment. Of course you should have goals and plans. What I am saying, though, is to set those goals and outline a plan of action in order to reach them. BUT then let go. Your plan should be detailed enough that you have daily things to do to accomplish the next section of that plan. That’s all you need to work on right now. AND if something goes awry with how that’s all playing out today, then so be it. You can pick up where you left off whenever that might be.

Don’t get so hung up on your to-do list. Take a fun moment and search the App Store for “to do list” apps and you’ll be amazed at how many there are. What adds to that amazement for me is how complex they all want to make a simple task. Add this. Add that. Make sure it’s AI something or other (“AI driven” etc. it’s a new buzz word or buzz phrase like “trauma informed” – not to deviate too much but I would bet that all of us are “trauma informed”. Anyway back to the regularly scheduled programming unless it’s censored).

Is your life like some of these apps? Complex and confusing. The to do items are in there somewhere….if only you could find them?

What are you missing in life as you zoom by to do this or that? I see this all the time on my walks. Sunday i was shocked. I do this certain route on the weekends and this week there was an empty lot (well it had a lot of construction equipment) where there was a house last week. What the heck? Are you noticing things changing around you all the time? We’ve talked before about how it doesn’t take all that long before change becomes the “norm” and we forget there was a change. Look at your kids and how they grow “before you know it”

Enjoy what the universe brings your way.

Daily Gratitude: I may have talked about this before but it’s something that is hitting home again as I work on my latest book.

As you would expect it’s about the 2025 Vol state. That’s no surprise but it’s got a definite new twist and the realizations and changes in me because of the race this year are much more valuable (and will last longer than the “woodalion” or the sticker (well maybe not more valuable than the sticker).

They are changes that impact the rest of my life. All for the better.

Can you take some time to look back at your “achievements” and list or describe some changes that each either caused or led to? If you can take the time to do that I think you’ll end up looking at your next project differently and be excited to see what unfolds IN YOU after that project or event is over.

Daily Gratitude: It takes a lot of effort and practice to become quiet nowadays. There’s noise all around you. You have to block it out if you have any hope of keeping your nervous system feeling safe (or at least somewhat safe). That should be your first priority at all times for your nervous system is what rules your life.

Think about that for a second. Do you even know what’s going on in your nervous system? I didn’t for the longest time. No one ever mentioned or explained its importance. Once I learned that, though, it made all the difference in the world. I did everything I could to learn how to make my “control panel” (my nervous system) feel safe – meditation, journaling, walking in nature without the bustling sounds of traffic in my ears (which are connected to my nervous system), breathing techniques, writing, reading, relaxing, talking to my brain, etc.

It doesn’t matter what you do as long as it helps to soothe the fear and anxiety that your brain has built into it. That’s its survival mechanism but we just add to it with all the silly things we think are crucial to our survival. You know, like getting through the stop light before someone honks at you or making it out of the grocery store in record time (are you looking for a place in the Guinness book of world records?). What we do to ourselves is sometimes very funny in retrospect.

Why not take some time to talk to your brain and see what its feeling and ask it (yes that sounds weird but it works) what it’s afraid of. Then you know where to begin. Make this a major goal every day of your life.