Daily Gratitude: One way to be more to yourself is to help another person. “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less!” What better way to be fulfilled than to take something you have been given (a quality not an object) and “gift” it to someone else. I see people posting quotes all the time. And I love the quotes. But you know what would matter more to me? It would be a “quote plus!” Huh? A quote plus what it means to the poster; you know, what struck home that made them want to share that quote. Wouldn’t that excite you? To know what others were thinking or feeling because they read something? I think that’s why reviews are so meaningful. People write about their feelings. Too often, though, they write about their negative experiences and that’s not what I’m talking about here. There is nothing wrong with sharing what you didn’t like. That helps others in their decisions but i also like to know what they liked about things. The emotions behind that somehow don’t stimulate people as much to make the effort to review something. That is kind of sad. If you got something out of a product or a book, that is a great way of saying “thanks”. Even though it seems as if I have digressed (what else is new), I just want us to give more to others than we get sometimes to see how that feels. How do you go outside yourself and then how does that make you feel toward yourself?

Daily Gratitude: I read about this in a daily newsletter I get and it struck me as so simple yet so important. A child is filled with wonder and curiosity and is in awe of so much in their surroundings. That’s what often gets them in trouble. They don’t have preconceived notions or judgments about things. They go into a situation wanting to find out everything there is to know. And then we lose that because of the limitations and fear placed upon or around everything. If we want to really experience life we have to pass through the doors we encounter without fear. We need to wonder what’s on the other side not worry about it. Be open. Be curious. Don’t be afraid or resentful or judgmental. That is childish. There’s entitlement too. Think of the temper tantrums of the little ones when things don’t go their way. The “it’s not fair” shouting and slamming of doors. These are the characteristics we wish to avoid. Enter into every day with the “I wonder what I’ll learn today attitude” and beautiful things will open up for you.

Daily Gratitude: Have you ever noticed this? The more you concentrate on the bad in someone or something, the more you see the bad. Your brain is doing what it thinks you want. Since you’ve criticized something in that person, your brain thinks that’s what you want to focus on and it does its usual bang-up job of bringing you what you want, what you “asked for”. Remember that it’s just one big database and it has an excellent filtering system. If you look at something and declare it “bad”, that annotation goes into the database and all such things are labeled the same. So, next time you see that same thing OR something similar, guess what? It is labeled bad. Then your “I want to please you” thinks you’re interested in that sort of thing so it searches for anything and anyone with even a smidgen of similarity so it can point it out to you as bad. Have you ever had or almost had a fight with someone very close to you and then all of a sudden you begin to see qualities in them that you’d swear were never there before? It’s because your helpful brain is now pointing out what it thinks you want to be made aware of – those annoying things that you ignored for decades. If you start looking for the good in someone or something, even if you have to stretch it, you will start to see more things you’ve interpreted (your brain has interpreted) as good. Maybe it’s something as mundane as “well he doesn’t talk with his mouth full”, “his clothes are clean”, “ he didn’t spit”, or “she doesn’t chew gum. You may have to really stretch to find something. Do it and then do it again the next day and continue until that thing’s presence is more tolerable. You’ll see the law of attraction at work if you diligently practice this.