Daily Gratitude: Does this seem stupid to you? It kind of sounds like a “nonsense” Statement but it isn’t. It’s more of a common sense statement. Let’s take my learning to love running as an example. I hated running – absolutely hated it. One reason i was glad I joined the navy was that I could swim for the physical fitness test instead of running. Then in 1993 I tore my ACL. 6 months after surgery I realized I had to see if I could at least run to “cover” first base as softball season was starting soon. Never in my wildest dreams did I think my immense love for softball would lead to my loving running. When i first tried, I couldn’t run any at all other than a couple of yards. I was fat, I smoked and didn’t care about running. But I did care about softball (there was my “why”). So I vowed to do this dumb activity until I could run to the end of the block (.35 mile) without stopping. That took me a week and by then I was hooked. The little decision to “just see if I could run” led to being hooked on it. There is lots more to the running story but the point today is that that one little decision ultimately led to my actually realizing my dream of trying to cross the USA on foot. What’s a little decision you can make today. Don’t think about where it might lead. Just make a small decision and then tomorrow make another one. See what happens.

Daily Gratitude: I just love this. If I was still working, I’d print this out and hang it on my computer or wall so that I could see it and remember it. All too often we let one thing that went “wrong” ruin our day and sometimes even our week. How foolish is that? Why should one thing affect the rest of our day? We also have to remember William Shakespeare’s precious statement “nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so”. Perhaps you could pick a day, a day you think if going to be easy. Then set the intention of examining your opinions about things. Every time you think “yuck” or “damn” or “oh no”, stop and ask yourself why you made that determination. Is there a way you can look at that one thing differently so that maybe it’s not so bad? Make a serious effort to find something good about it. But even if you can’t, vow to sweep it under the rug and move on with your day. Make a conscious effort to tell yourself that that one thing will NOT start an avalanche of bad things happening. Be like a baseball player and “shake it off”. You can actually do the shaking motion as a symbol that you’re leaving that one thing behind and you’re not about to let it influence how the rest of your day will go.

Daily Gratitude: How often do we even think about being stuck IN a point of view – as if it’s quicksand or something similar? To take the quicksand thing a bit further, consider this. You’re stuck in quicksand but actually it’s your lower body or legs that are covered in that material. Your upper body and head are not stuck. They can see the beauty of all around – they just can’t reach it. It’s like a tease. “See all this other stuff that looks interesting? Bet you wish you could experience some of that. “ your mouth is watering but you just can’t get there to try it out since you’re stuck. If you could magically wash off all that quicksand material, would you go over and try to experience what you see? Or would you still think your legs were stuck in the quicksand and avert your eyes. Why are you unwilling or afraid to try a new and different thought/belied? Are you still mired in your the quicksand of your past?