Daily Gratitude: How often do you give with the expectation that at some point (maybe not right now) you’ll get something back from that person? Maybe this isn’t a conscious thought. Think about any relationships you’ve had where you’ve had an argument. Or have you ever thought/said “you/they owe me”? These are all natural reactions. However, we learn so much more about kindness when we give totally unconditionally. Think about people who are destitute and have nothing to eat. Can you give them some food? You’ll never even see that person again. But the feeling you’ll have will be with you forever. It can be anyone, not one totally down on their luck. Just doing those random acts of kindness will bring you personal warmth for a long, long time. Let’s try giving more.

Daily Gratitude: As everyone seems in a tizzy (either a happy tizzy or a frightened tizzy), I feel it’s important to put things in perspective. As I may have mentioned, I’m studying to be an end of life doula (a death doula) and although it’s still early in my training, I have found that helping people at the end of their life is much more rewarding than all the other noise. The other day I interacted with a woman younger than me who was at the end. Her body had more heat emanating from it than I’d ever felt. But when I held her hand, I felt the life energy she once had. I was only in there for about 10 minutes and she was essentially non-responsive. She died that evening. But she touched my life in a way that no one ever has. As a physician I’ve seen people die but this is a much different scenario than in a hospital. You can feel the peace and you can be grateful she has had some impact on your life. We all have the ability to impact others and be impacted by them. But we have to find the quiet and let it all in. The way we are right now, we can’t do that because there is no quiet. I am grateful to this woman and for this class for helping me see what’s truly important in life. You can apply the same concepts to people in your life who are experiencing unknown or bad diagnoses. Touch them but also let them touch you.

Daily Gratitude: They say some people are born winners. And I’ve heard the opposite too – some are born losers. it’s really neither. It’s how we think that creates our circumstances and our circumstances can be changed. Panic, worry, anger, fear, doubt. All these thoughts and emotions do is stir up your body’s control system. It’s very difficult to win in a hectic environment (internal or external or both). If that’s where you find yourself, then step back and try to regulate your inner being so that you can get back up to fight again. That is a true winner. Regroup and reassess to know what you need to do. Revise your strategy and see what happens. You may need to revise it again. Just keep at it.