Daily Gratitude: We’re all in such a hurry nowadays that i don’t think we take the time to think about the little moments and what they mean. Or, how lots of little moments add up into big ones. Take my recent injury. I’ve talked about this before but it bears repeating. I could spend all my time thinking about how painful and inconvenient this thing is, blah blah blah. Or I could have fun thinking about the little moments during that same time period that made me happy. A few years ago those moments would never even have made an impression let alone be considered “good times”. Let’s look at some. The morning after the injury I knew I had to get some bandages for the laceration. I knew where the CVS was so off i went. That by itself was intriguing trying to start my car with my left hand and move the gear shift. But I’ll come back to that. I was concerned because the low tire pressure light was still on. But which was most important? My arm or my car? I contemplated that as I drove to CVS. And guess what? Right across the street was a Toyota dealer. Voila- problem solved. Boy did I smile. Then when I went to the Toyota place, I was treated like a human being (not always the case) and the woman took great care of me. What a happy and comforting “little” moment. The same happened with each of my encounters or steps when i went to the ER. Lots of little moments to remember and re-experience. Every race I have ever done is overflowing with so many little moments. Isn’t it more fun to think back on those? I recommend making a “little moments” collection. Use a notebook or a notebook app and just jot them down as they occur. Whenever you’re feeling down or unsure read them over. It will brighten your day. And you know another side effect of paying attention to those little moments? You become more interested and invested in helping create a little moment for others. You can’t get more of a win-win situation can you?

Daily Gratitude: How often do we wish things were easier and that there weren’t so many obstacles? Sure that would make life easier – at least for a time being. But have you ever taken the time to review your life, listing the things you’ve had to overcome (you can call them obstacles or adversifies or challenges or whatever you want to label them). Create a timeline of these things and go back to list what the “problem/trouble” was. Then take some time with each to see what it took to get past them. At this early point in the exercise you’re just looking at each event separately. When you’ve done this, now it’s time to look and see if any of the old ones were connected. Did one choice give you “power” or skills that you implemented later on with another obstacle? Look for and list trends in meeting these things head on. Do you see a pattern? This can be a pattern involving new skills or perhaps old escape mechanisms where you find new ways each time to run away. Don’t put yourself down if you identify any trends. Just decide what you need to do about. What skills do you know you have that have been honed over the years? List them on one side of a piece of paper and then list your escape tactics on the other. Now you get to choose which skills you want to use or work to improve. Let us know if this helps you spot things or trends and if it helped.

Daily Gratitude: You can imagine how this struck me when I saw it on Pam’s Facebook page. Why? Because I love to walk. And many of my thoughts and ideas have become more defined while walking. I’m slow and unless I’m in a race it doesn’t bother me. Why? Because I see so much and can marvel at nature. The other day I saw the most astounding thing I’d seen in a long time. Don’t get excited- I’m sure you’ll think “geez, you need to get a life Terrie!” I had just been to the botanical gardens with a friend who is brilliant (not just with flowers and plants but in life). She was telling me this and that and part of my brain was trying to remember what she was saying but another part was trying to find the perfect photo. When I got home I decided to go for a long walk (for me right now 7 miles is long) so I headed out on our greenway path. I passed a section that had lots of white flowers blooming. It was beautiful and I don’t remember that many of them being “out” at one time. The next morning I had to walk early and as I passed the same section they appeared to have died. I was bummed out that they had only lasted one day (notice the self-centered aspect here – I had only been back out on that trail for one day so I automatically thought the flowers were only blooming that day. They might have been out for a week for all I knew). I continued on and on my way back 2 hours later they were all blooming AGAIN. wow. “Had new ones shown up or were these the same ones that had maybe hunkered down for the night only to show back up in the sunlight the next day?” I had never noticed this before – my awareness hadn’t been honed in on that phenomenon. why did I notice it then? Because my brain (specifically my RAS, reticular activating system) had been stimulated. I bet you’re yawning right now wondering what that has to do with anything. It has to do with priming the pump. If you have an issue (not necessarily a problem but it can be; or it can be an idea rolling around in your head), think about it for a few minutes before you leave for your walk. This will get the RAS going and you’ll be surprised at what will surface during your walk. Take the time to prime the pump just like I did (unknowingly) by going to the botanical gardens before my walk. See what issues you can solve and what ideas you can come up with. Let us know.