Daily Gratitude: We should all try this – at least once a day. In these chaotic times, it’s so easy to fall into the abyss and become polarized with “the other side”. Wouldn’t you like, for just once, to take a different stance and spread kindness in your tiny world. You can’t change the whole world but you can change the world of someone around you. And guess what? When you do that, it gets passed on to someone in that person’s world and so on. Think about how many people you can impact by just being nice and kind to at least one other person. I guarantee you that you’ll feel better too – certainly better than always focusing on how things suck. I feel honored on Tuesday nights when I can make a jelly sandwich for a gentleman where I volunteer. Such a simple thing to me. But it makes his life better even if it’s just for a few minutes. He also knows someone cares about him. And that will last a lot longer than the sandwich will. Wouldn’t you like to make someone feel better?

Daily Gratitude: What great advice to remember when dealing with people – and it’s rare that we’re not dealing with people. Everyone offers you a gift. It is up to you to decide if you’ll accept it or not. That gift may help you…or….it may make things seem harder for you. Either way, you gain something. If their actions help you and make you happy, that’s a big win for everyone. We might say that it’s positive. But what if they do something selfish or stupid (notice I said if they “do” something, not that they are stupid or selfish because most of the time they aren’t totally like that)? Then you’ve been given the gift of learning how to deal with them or deal with the situation you were hoping they’d help with. What does that do? As the quote says – it makes you stronger. And I might add – it makes you a bit wiser. Most likely you will be able to use that bit of strength later on down the line. It’s like building muscle. You’ve strengthened your “dealing with adversity” muscle. You can be grateful for both scenarios. And by being grateful you will attract more good into your life – even if you don’t think something is good right then. The universe knows much more about what path you should be on than you do. I know that’s hard to accept because it means you aren’t in control but it’s true.

Daily Gratitude: Have you ever asked for a “sign” about something? Then what happens? You look around and everything you see turns into a potential sign and you spend a lot of time wondering “if that was it”. This quote is so spot on. We have to slow down if we want to get the messages the universe has for us. I know that personally the universe got tired of sending me so many signs that I never got. Why didn’t I get them? I was way too busy to pay attention. What a shame. But you know what? The universe forced me to slow down so that I had no choice but to listen. And believe me when I say that you never want the universe to put a barreling train in front of you as you stand there on the tracks oblivious to its arrival. Why not? Because you won’t win. The universe always wins. And that’s a good thing because it is much much smarter than you are. I don’t know why it takes so long for us to recognize this fact. If we could just force ourselves to look around and pay attention to what’s going on around us, we’d be so much better off. So take some time to figure out how you can slow down and look and listen. Then do it.