Daily Gratitude: If you listen to my hotline, you’ll know that I end every call with “have a diamond day”! It comes from John Denver’s song “some days are diamond; some days are stone”.

Diamonds are created from massive amounts of pressure. Napoleon Hill shows us with this quote that pressure (uncertainty and adversity too) is what leads to the greatest breakthroughs. Every day should be a diamond day because we can choose what we we and how we interpret what we see. Remember that happiness is a choice.

Some day when you’re feeling as if things aren’t going the best, take some time to look over your past and see if this hasn’t been borne out.

You can do it when things are ok too so that you have reference for the future. It gives you something to look at and tell yourself you’ll get through it AND be better off for it.

When you realize you’ve “been there before” and have plenty of t-shirts, it will help you lower the degree of suffering (you can use the two arrow theory for that). Notice I didn’t say it would be gone but it should be less if your brain can believe it’s safe and this situation is temporary.

Daily Gratitude: When you wake up in the morning, after giving thanks for waking up, you should take a few minutes to determine how you can make the day a reflection of your strength- make it your masterpiece.

Take a few moments ahead of time to decide what that means for you. What is your masterpiece. It doesn’t have to be of a global nature but it should be special to you. It may not be the same every day but hopefully all you have to do is focused toward the same type of purpose, such as serving others.

If you’re creating a masterpiece, you should take time figuring it out – what qualities, characteristics, and values make up that masterpiece. Your masterpiece is a puzzle and you are the one creating all the pieces. Use each day to add those pieces to the total makeup of the big picture.

On some of my days, my masterpiece consists of walking long miles.

On other days it’s writing.

The point is to begin your day with the enthusiasm and energy your masterpiece generates within you.

Try it.

Daily Gratitude: This is the one kind of fasting I believe in. You have to do everything you can to keep all
These negative things from inhabiting your brain….and soul.

It takes work. You have to be conscientious at noticing when you have entertained some of that negativity.

It helps if you allow yourself a set period of time to monitor your thoughts (internally voiced as well as external ones). Write them down. See if you can identify any patterns. That might make it easier when that monitoring period is over. You might be able to determine particular periods when you might need to be more vigilant.

Once you have an idea of what you need to pay attention to, figure out what you are going to use as replacement thoughts and beliefs. You have to be prepared with adequate material. Again it helps to have them planned.

This is a step by step process and you shouldn’t rush something this important. When I finally decided to give up smoking, I took a month to figure out what I was going to do instead of smoking. I thought of every possible scenario and what I’d do if certain things popped up. It worked and that was 30 years ago.

You can do this fasting! Don’t wait though. Start your planning now.