Daily Gratitude: Can you imagine how your world could change if you really believed this? What if you could see what others think of as a disaster as an opportunity for people to come together and help others? What if, instead of complaining that it rained and messed up some Saturday or Sunday plan you had, you could see how it enabled you to do something else with the kids- something they brought you even closer together? How we interpret things is based on what we’ve previously experienced AND on how we’ve reacted to those things. Some people have Scrooge for a parent and others have Pollyanna. Why is that important? Because our parents/guardians are who have most likely taught us how to respond to things. Some people are fortunate enough to have a progressive parent who believes in and teaches that there is a pearl forming from that pebble in your shoe that is currently causing you pain. This type of person will learn to look for the good in everything and will be patient enough to wait for that good to show up. Therefore they don’t go ballistic when something “goes wrong “. They just look at it as if the oyster hasn’t opened yet but when it does, boy will that pearl be beautiful. What’s in your background? Can you change the way you look at things so that you just know something good will happen. Remember how I’ve told you that Catherine Ponder (possibly the First Lady of metaphysics) declares everything good! Can you try that for a week and keep track of all that happens and how often you say it. Then sit back and see what happens regarding the things you declared good vs the ones you didn’t.

Daily Gratitude: Most of the time this is up to you. You can make it a great day. There are even remarkable people who are disabled or who are dying can find something about their day or their lives to be happy about. Why not try to find one tiny little thing that makes you happy. Make sure you allow yourself to smile about the memory or thought so that your brain is actively engaging your muscles. That’s an “action” and all of the good things we experience have some sort of action associated. Anyway, have that one little thing be your “happiness factor” to start your day. Then the rest of the day, your job is to find other LEGO pieces to add to the “happy construction” you’ve got going. To start with they should be little things so you can find more and more. You can use the same ones on more than one day if you need to. But the more you practice, the easier it will become to find something right around you that adds to your happiness. Maybe a loved one is in the hospital in critical condition. But can you be happy they are getting great care, that the ambulance got them to the hospital in time; that there are people coming to be with you or calling/texting; that you are well enough to be able to endure this; etc.? You may have to go so little with something like “there are vending machines here”. Find something to smile about. It will increase your energy and allow you to have more strength to deal with whatever else is coming your way that day.

Daily Gratitude: Did you realize there’s a difference between these two? On the surface they seem the same.  The example given by Stephen Chandler was that when he was an alcoholic and he came into a friends house and they they gave him an alcoholic drink, that was pleasing him.  If that person instead took him to a 12 step program, they were then serving him.  Often we please others because it’s the easy way out and doesn’t make any waves.  But that’s actually doing more harm than good.  Serving others is doing the right thing for them no matter how hard it is.  This is similar to and maybe even just another way of saying tough love.  When you let others get away with less than optimal behavior (aka bad behavior), instead of ignoring and saying things like “that’s just the way she is” or even “boys will be boys” then that’s a form of pleasing.  It certainly is not serving. If you were to address someone who’s constantly yelling at you and letting them know that 1) it hurts your feelings, and 2) you won’t tolerate it any longer, then you are serving them – even if they don’t think so at the time.  Can you think of times in your life when you’ve just pleased someone and then another time when you’ve served them? Let us know.