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.

Daily Gratitude: This is a magic way to increase our own happiness without even much effort.

If you can find something you appreciate and praise it, it will bring a smile to your face and put joy in your heart. Let’s say you see a little dog climbing all over a child, making the kid laugh and play. Who could resist appreciating that? Who wouldn’t find a smile coming to their lips?

Let’s say you have a friend who is always doing good things for you and for others, do you tell them how much you appreciate them? Once you do and once you see how happy that makes them, then your happiness will increase.

And you shouldn’t be showing your appreciation for small things. We complain when we have to wait for traffic lights but take a moment to think how you’d feel if we didn’t have any traffic lights. What kind of grumbling would that lead to.

What are some things you take for granted? Say plumbing. Think about life without those things. What is your appreciation level now?

Make a game of it. Enjoy finding things to appreciate. Make it a habit. You’ll have many more smiles throughout your day if you do.