Daily Gratitude: There’s too much noise around us. I find the best time of day for me is the early morning when I “do” my morning routine. There’s no music, no audiobooks, no tv, no cars zooming by, no people. It’s just me. I sit and listen to the silence. It is something you can hear especially when compared to the chatter the rest of the day brings. I feel much more in touch with myself. It took a long time to become comfortable with the silence. I had always had music or something on. But not once I became content just being with me, myself and I. It’s fun and beautiful and sets the day up right. You should try it sometime.

Daily Gratitude: How often do we sit and fester over not being loved or not being loved “enough”? Do we sit around and wonder “have I loved enough?”, or, “does my mother know how much I love her – do I show her every day?” Why don’t we spend more time contemplating the second set of questions? Have you ever taken stock of how you show love? And to whom? And maybe also who’s on the list of those you say you love but rarely take the time to show it? Can you create a challenge for yourself (or a game for those of us, including me, who are averse to the concept of all these challenges) that will increase the number of times you show your love for people or for certain people AND better yet, including more people in the list of those you conscientiously will show love? Keep track of your efforts and constantly ask yourself how you can do it better.

Daily Gratitude: As usual it’s all about how you perceive things. Remember that William Shakespeare said “nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so”. Let’s say you’re moving along your life and everything is going fine. Next thing you know there’s a “road block” up ahead. At the least this will slow your progress down. At the worst it will totally stop you in your tracks. In the majority of ways it’s up to you and how you respond. Are you going to let it totally derail you? Or, are you going to stop and say “mmmm, let’s see what we have here. How can I use this to make me a better person or improve my life. Or, maybe even how to improve someone else’s life? How can you share lessons from this experience to help others navigate similar situations more easily? If you make this a constant question in your mind (whether things are good or bad), you can’t go wrong. We are all meant to be teachers and coaches. How many people can you influence with your handling of situations. And you don’t have to write a book or start a corporation to do that. People watch the actions and behavior of others whether you know it or not. Remember that too and let it guide your actions today…and every day.