Daily Gratitude: This is a pretty simple philosophy but an oh so powerful one. It’s also a goal toward which we all should aspire – every day. We are in a time when freedom is being threatened and maybe you feel as if there isn’t much you can do about it. But there is. Each day you can do what is within your scope and your power to let people know you care about their freedom and happiness. Maybe it’s leaving a bigger tip than usual. Maybe it’s giving money to someone on the street. Maybe it’s just smiling at a someone. How is that fostering freedom? Because if you’re smiling at someone it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to beat them up or rob them. You’re giving them a sense of belonging (to the human race) and that’s freedom in and of itself.

Daily Gratitude: Right now there’s so much in the world that we wish was different, but that we don’t have any control over. What a helpless feeling that is. And it’s a hopeless feeling also. But instead of floundering around, bemoaning the state or the world, we have to take some control of our thoughts and then our lives. If there is something you can do to help correct the situation, then by all means, take action. If not, then focus on what you can do. How can you make your little section of the world better? Who can you help? I think if each of us would ask ourselves this one question every single day and focus on the answer, we’d be happier and eventually the world would be a better place. But neither you nor I can “make” someone else focus on that question and answer. However, we can focus on doing it ourselves. Remember Mother Teresa talking about not being able to tend to the masses but able to tend to the one in front of her right then. That’s what you can do too. On the way home from my walk one day i went into Dunkin Donuts to get a drink. There was a woman on my side of the counter in a Dunkin outfit. She told me she’d be right back and would take care of me as soon as she could. I said ok. I really didn’t care. Another woman came over and took my order. The first one eventually came back, again apologizing for the delay. She was truly glad when I told her the other woman had taken care of me. She then explained that she’d had to use the restroom etc. she treated me like I was her only customer ever and my happiness would determine the success of her business (which is actually true if you look at it the right way). I felt special and all I wanted was some coffee. Do you think you could do that for or with someone today?

Daily Gratitude: This should be good news to everyone. It means you can do something about your circumstances. The “bad” news is that you can do something about your circumstances. Why is that “bad” news? Because you have to accept the responsibility for that. You can’t continue to blame others or blame the world or blame anything. You have to realize that you can and should be able to change where you are in life and how you feel about it. It’s not easy. There isn’t a pill to take. You have to keep your eyes open and your brain aware 24 hours a day. You’re in the middle of a gigantic field. You see one path, a well worn path, right there in front of you. It feels cozy and comfortable- it should because you’ve traveled it so many times. In fact it’s the only path you’ve ever known. But you’ve realized you aren’t exactly happy and you wonder what’s on the other side of the field. After all it looks beautiful as best as you can see. You’d really like to see those trees and plants more closely. How are you going to do that? There’s no path. You guess you’ll have to make your own path. As you begin to make your way to the other side you note that it’s hard. There’s nothing plowed. You’re having to decide where to put your feet. It’s slow going because the weeds are high. Then it’s night time and you’re tired. You haven’t made it but a short way across the field. You head back knowing you can start again tomorrow. You get some rest and when tomorrow comes you decide to try again. This first part is a lot easier than yesterday because the grass has been stomped down and you can see a path beginning to form. You think “yeah I can do this”. A little bit later you come to the end of where you were yesterday. Now moving forward becomes hard again. But you’re encouraged by today’s progress. The same thing happens when you get tired and this process repeats itself until you get to the other side. Then when you look back, you see a new path. You can understand how to repeat this until you’ve seen all of the field and created all these new roads. You have grown!