Daily Gratitude: This is something we all should examine at least once a year, if not more frequently. It’s a very hard question for most of us to answer. In this day and age we’ve been conditioned to strive for this, work for that. Maybe when we were children our parent instilled in us the idea of values and virtues but it didn’t take long for that to be replaced by accolades (or disparagement) when we brought home our report cards. Performance became the key indicator for everything. When I was working I used to argue with all the other leaders and I was definitely an outcast. They could only see someone’s worth and value based on their performance- how many cases they cranked out. They would not look at quality as an indicator of worth. The person who cherry picked 10 easy cases was a “more valued person” than the one who took the challenge of a complicated and complex case that required hours to complete properly. We needed both kinds of people in order to get through the numbers of cases we had but it was only the “productive” ones that got rewarded. What is your worth? How do you measure it? Is it even important to measure it? Was Mother Theresa heralded for the exact amount of people she met and helped or is she remembered for what she is – a caring, courageous and loving person? There are no numbers you can attach to that. Take some time this week to think about what your true worth is. What are you contributing to the world?

Daily Gratitude: What a beautiful quote AND philosophy! A good friend brought this to my attention and I feel that we all should strive to be wise. How much effort does it really take to be kind. I had a medical procedure the other day that was supposed to be at 2 and of course they tell you to be there an hour early. Well, it seems they were running behind and I had to wait – horrors! How dare they make ME wait. lol. It’s actually funny when you think of it that way. You can almost make a cartoon out of it. When you do that, you realize how silly any kind of angry response would be. Fortunately I didn’t have to make any cartoons because finally in my life I have gotten to the point where I know that stuff happens and it’s not an intentional affront to me. It’s just the way things go sometimes. The staff and doctors kept apologizing and I couldn’t figure out why since it wasn’t their fault. I would want them to take all the time they needed with me so why shouldn’t they do that with others even if it did mean getting behind. I’m actually pretty proud of myself for just accepting it since I had a horrible migraine that entire time and just wanted to go home and get my medicine. But again, how could I be upset with people who were trying their darndest to take care of everyone. They weren’t just hanging out doing nothing. They were working hard. They were being kind to me by apologizing and seeing if I needed anything so how could I do anything but return the kindness. Have you ever seen a situation defused by someone just continuing to be kind even in the face of angry customers. I could never work for airlines because that’s what so many of them have to do. But they truly are the wise ones. They know that it’s more difficult to argue against kindness. They also know that they would be upset too if they were in the customer’s shoes. We can learn a lot by observing how people respond (not react) to angry people. How are you going to be wise today?

Daily Gratitude: I strive to live by this although it’s not always easy. It’s much more handy to get caught up in the “same old, same old”. You know- bemoaning and complaining about how things stink and maybe some “genie” moments – the ones where you exclaim “I wish things were different”. You expect the genie to pop out of the magic lamp and tell you that they will fulfill your one wish. That’s not going to happen, BUT you can work your own magic. This is not a pill or injection that will make you feel better NOW. It takes work and commitment, sort of like going to therapy. Take some time – preferably a lot of time. Visualize how you want things to be. Get this as a clear picture with as many details as possible. Use the visualization many times each day, especially when you start to focus on (or even just think about) how lousy things are right now. You want to stop that neural circuit from playing over and over and the best way to do that is to have another circuit in place so all you have to do is flip the switch and start playing the new one. Your mind doesn’t know what’s real and what’s imagined. It will start following the circuit that’s played the most and we want that to be the new one. In essence, we’re putting up “road closed” signs and “detour” directions. I actually use those road signs as part of my visualizations. As soon as I start to think about a “problem” I immediately see a road closed sign. Then I look for the detour. If I’ve been diligent and done my “homework”, the new neural circuit pops up right where the detour sign is pointing. If I haven’t been diligent, I immediately start to create the scenario I want to happen and the act of creating it helps to take my mind off the problem and onto the solution. This takes time and work and often people stop doing it because they think it’s futile. But I believe that this process coupled with “everything always works out for me”, will help you greatly. Things do not change with wishing and hoping. Your mind and energy is powerful and using this technique will show you that power.