Looking for an easy read dealing with Gratitude? Here is a great resource that you can pick up and enjoy! Written back in 1996, it is still as important today as it was originally!

“I have noticed that the Universe love gratitude. The more grateful you are, the more goodies you get. When I say ‘goodies,’ I don’t mean only material things. I mean all the people, places, and  experiences that make life so wonderfully worth living.” So starts out, Gratitude by Louise L. Hay.

Louise Hay has once again created a great little book that is paced with fabulous content dealing with being grateful.  This book contains insights of some of the most wonderful teachers and writers who have demonstrated the power of gratitude in their own lives. This is a very good resource in which healing professionals have written essays that read easily and flow nicely.

A common theme throughout the book is to remember to be grateful on a consistent basis; show your thanks every day. With 336 pages of wonderful material, you will certainly feel the thanks coming out of you as you read each of the stories that were written by others and compiled by Ms. Hay.

Read more about Gratitude here

- Doug Larson

In the U.S. we are celebrating Labor Day – a day usually spent relaxing, backyard picnics, and spending time with friends.

Feel free to check out the blog today – read about gratitude on such a day!

http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/blog

Be Well.

Give it a Rest.

This Labor Day, give yourself permission to relax and de-stress:

• Schedule some alone time to just be.
• Get a relaxing massage.
• Crank up the tunes and cut loose.
• Laugh out loud at your favorite sitcom.

Whatever works for you, take time out from the rat race for a stress break. You’ve earned it.

Personally, I plan on relaxing by doing some things around the house today and working on a couple websites that need to be updated. Once that is all done, maybe I will go on a picnic! What are you planning on doing?

Whatever it is, do it with gratitude in your heart.

I am sitting / reclining at the New York Blood Bank as I donate Platelets. I love my iPhone and the ability to blog anywhere!

My appointment was at 10:30 am and I was told that 8 people have already donated! How awesome is that?

Donating takes about 2 hours since they ‘Super-Size’ my order and take a triple donation. I have a naturally high platelet count so I let them take whatever they want.

Why do I donate almost every month? I am grateful to be able to help someone who needs it. Of couse, I never meet these people, but it is a nice feeling! I guess you can say I am selfish and I donate ’cause it feels nice Besides… The staff here is great! They are a wonderful group of people.

OK – I admit… I like the Lorna Doone cookies I get afterwards!

Be Well.
Paul
The Gratitude Guru

I thought it would be fun today to post this video. Honestly, I am not sure if 100% of the scenarios in this compilation are real (as opposed to being staged), it still is amazing.

Personally, I don’t believe in Fate or Luck. Your destiny is not predetermined, and Luck does not happen by chance. You are responsible for your actions and everything you do prepares you for those up and coming events. Just like gratitude, you can make choices that will provide options in the future. Based on these actions, is there Divine Intervention? Does the Universe play a role? Absolutely!

Do you believe in luck? Leave a comment and let me know. How much gratitude would you be feeling if you were in any one of those situations?

You can see the items form 111 – 120 here.

This morning as I was brushing my teeth, I had a thought about my gratitude as it pertained to brushing my teeth! I thought I would make that today’s theme to show how any ‘mundane’ activity can include gratitude.

111. I am grateful for my toothbrush! I get a new one every month.

112. 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people – I am so grateful for having running water in my house!

113. When brushing my teeth, I am thankful for my dentist – I have been going to him for years!

114. Although it is small, I say Thanks for my ‘master’ bathroom where I brush my teeth!

115. have I even mentioned my teeth yet? Gotta love ‘em!

116. Believe it or not, I am grateful that there are so many different brands, flavors, and types of toothpaste! I think my favorite comes in a powdered form! I really enjoy Eco-Dent.

117. I recently went out and purchased the most softest, fluffiest, towels and floor mat set. Walking on the floor mat is awesome!

118. I have a little bamboo plant on the sink that greets me every morning as I am brushing my teeth. Thank you little Bamboo plant!

119. I am grateful for the minty fresh breath I get when I brush my teeth.

120. Silly as it may sound, I am grateful for the little travel sized toothpaste for when I am traveling! I keep a few different kinds on hand, so it is a treat to pick a different one for each trip

There you go! I just rattled off 10 things which bring me more gratitude all dealing with brushing my teeth! Who would have thought this could happen? I wonder if this is the first post EVER on the internet on this exact topic! I may be starting a trend!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

Of course, certain things in the email were changed (i.e., name, and some other things) so as not to invade on anyone’s privacy.

Paul, I wanted you to know that I am getting your daily gratitude burst and it gives me great comfort, so thank you very much.

At the moment I am trying to deal with many family problems and am finding it very difficult to have an attitude of gratitude. The ridiculous thing is that the problems are not mine and yet I am losing sleep over them.

Tomorrow i will start another gratitude diary and see if it helps.

Thank you for your encouragement.–John Doe

Here is my reply:

Hi John -

I am sorry you are dealing with this. it does not sound like you are having fun at all!

Here is my unsolicited advice – and it is free – so consider the value there

1. Just smile. Don’t think. Just smile. This simple act can be a short respite from the stress you are feeling. It has the potential of changing your entire mood.

2. Remember that there is a lesson in all this for you. You might not like it and you might wish it was not happening. But, you are meant to learn something from this. In the middle of the confusion you might be going through, try to analyze what it is that you need to learn. Is it, “How do I  deal with difficult family members?” Or perhaps it is, “How can I better communicate with my teenage son or daughter?” I don’t know what you are facing, but you can grow from it.

The key here is to learn the lesson NOW so it is not repeated again in the future. I am a slow learner and I am presented with the same lessons sometimes.. over and over again.

3. A gratitude journal will help, I am sure! Make it a discipline. Set a time each day (or multiple times a day) and write it in. If you don’t feel like writing, that is a sign that you really should! Here is a link to a post I wrote about them: http://allaboutgratitude.com/blog/101/gratitude-journal/

I hope these three tid-bits help you through this unsettling time. Doing them is easier said than done, I understand that. Give it your best shot!

Be Well.

Paul.?

Even if life is going great for you, these 3 items will help bring more gratitude into your life.

- Anthony Robbins

Simple question for you today: Which would you rather have, Fear or Abundance?

Sounds like an easy question, doesn’t it? In reality, you have the choice each and every moment. Ironically enough, most people actually unconsciously pick Fear!

Break the habit and choose Abundance! Be grateful! Have more gratitude in your life.

Don’t you think you deserve it?

Be Well.

1. It starts out with a musical number (Amazing Grace). I have a strong affinity for music and I am grateful anytime that I hear music played well.

2. At the 5:30 mark (5 minutes and 30 seconds into the video), there is a clip from “Walking Across Egypt” that shows a delightful engaging moment between a young man and someone who could be his grandmother (sorry – I have not yet seen the whole movie). In any case, he talks about how he thanked Tracy Willingham… I certainly was not expecting that to come out.

3. The remaining portion of the video is a sermon delivered from a stage – the drum set is behind him and it reminds me of a night club! Very progressive

4. Lastly, the person delivering the message is  a young man who appears to be in his mid 20s. Very refreshing as well.

5. Be warned, however, this is a LONG video. About 44 minutes or so.

If you want to view some other videos on gratitude her at AllAboutGratitude.com, you can see them here.

Enjoy the upcoming weekend and work on your Attitude of Gratitude!

- Madeline Bridges

All I have to say today is, Don’t Hold Back! (OK – I probably have more to say than that…)

Seriously though. Give today everything you have! I can guarantee that if you give all you can give, you will get so much back that your gratitude levels will be off the scale!

Think of the possibilities!! How awesome will today be if you went all out – gave 110% at EVERYTHING you did today. There is no way the day would go badly!

Besides, what do you have to loose?

Good Luck for everyone going back to school today!

Be Well.

- Michael Jordan

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Work got you running around ragged? Is there no way that the gratitude will be flowing for you, even if you tried??

If that is the case, then it won’t! When you put the expectation out to the Universe, you will get it. Don’t feel that the Gratitude Fairy will be coming your way? Keep thinking that, because she won’t!

You NEED to expect the gratitude to come to you. That should be easy seeing as the gratitude is already within you! It is there!

Get quiet and bring it forth!

You got it!

There is a guest Blogger today over at
http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/blog/ – come check it out!

Be Well.?

An Attitude of Gratitude

I have a post-it on my computer at work with only one word, “gratitude”. The thing that sometimes bothers me is that it is there for me to see every single day and yet there are days I don’t see it at all. It actually becomes invisible. I only seem to see it when I need to see it and that was not the intent of putting it there in the first place. The intent was to notice it many times per day and acknowledge gratitude with a very quiet “thank you” or whatever I wanted to say to my Higher Power.

One of the important things I learned in the beginning of 12 Step Recovery was to be grateful. Well, actually I had to relearn how to be grateful because for so long it didn’t seem as there was much in my life for which to be grateful. The kinds of things I felt grateful for always seemed to follow one of those foxhole prayers that most addicts tend to do quite well. Being grateful for the fact that the cop didn’t stop you or that you found that bottle or pill you lost doesn’t exactly constitute the type of gratitude recovery suggests.

Gratitude isn’t always that easy. Gratitude means being grateful for the daily struggles of life, some of which can seem rather unbearable. I was told I didn’t have to mean it. All I had to do was pray it. It is easy to be grateful for gifts. The idea of being grateful for difficulties is that these are put before us so that we may learn and grow. Hopefully, the difficulties eventually either disappear completely or actually become gifts.

What I know about gratitude today is that because of a 12 Step Recovery program I was able to enjoy my daughter, her husband, and my three grandbabies for over a week. I felt more gratitude for my recovery and my Higher Power than I had in a while because I was in the midst of living in gratitude. I was living in that “now” that sometimes seems so elusive. And while I was in the middle of all of that gratitude I was confronted by a most difficult issue by another member of my immediate family. I had to remember how important gratitude was so that I could accept this new problem and know that it wasn’t about me. I had to remember gratitude so that I could accept this issue and work through it without anxiety and worry. If I do not accept this problem with gratitude, it could easily become something I want to try to control or worse yet, obsess over. I cannot afford to do either.

Gratitude toward everything that happens in my life is connected to the faith and trust I have in my Higher Power. A struggle today may be a gift tomorrow. Or maybe the struggle just hangs around for a long time until I can learn to accept it. I don’t know because I don’t have the plan for my life.

What are the things today that you are grateful for? Think about them, write them down, or share them with another. I’m a great procrastinator but I’m really going to try to practice this. My post-it is getting kind of ratty looking anyway.

Namaste’. May you walk your journey in peace and harmony!

- Sherlock Holmes

What a great quote! Many people understand what this means… You see what is happening, but since you are not fully present, you do not observe – you cannot put the pieces together, logical deduction fails. But, technically, you can describe what you saw.

Basically, this is the same with gratitude. If you just say, “Thank You” without meaning it, it is not true gratitude.

Get the picture??

Be Well & Happy Birthday, Erik!

See the complete posting here: http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/pencil-tip-micro-sculptures-by-dalton-ghetti/

People often appreciate the talents of others. Have you considered the talents that you posses? I am sure that you can be grateful for something that you do uniquely well. When you have some time today, think about that which you can do very well. Share your talents and skills with someone else.

How much can you give away of yourself? How much can you freely share with others. Don’t hold back. Give. Give. Give. It is better to give than receive. I can ensure that as you give more of your talents away, you will be presented with more. More money. More gratitude. More opportunity. More freedom. More tangible items as well as more intangible items.

Gain more gratitude by giving away more of yourself.

You can see the items form 101 – 110 here.

Once again, I have been a little delinquent in updating my list. It certainly is NOT due to lack of wanting to, it is just that I have been a bit busy. But, no excuses here… let’s get cracking!

111. Truly helpful sales people who are interested in what you need, not what they want to sell!

112. The Gratitude Burst!

113. Honest Mechanics

114. Sitting on the deck, drinking coffee, and enjoying the morning.

115. Having people read through this list!

116. Birthdays!

117. Going to the Creed Concert!

118. Picking up our organic veggie order on Sunday mornings.

119. Crazy Family members.

120. Being a crazy family member myself!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

A person who is not “feeling the gratitude” may find themselves uttering “Thank you” a few times a day. This is out of habit! Until the feelings are felt when saying this, the gratitude will not be felt, the life will not change, and life will be routine. The phrase “Thank you” holds little power to engage the Law of Gratitude if there is no real gratefulness supporting the words.

Understanding the source of their gratitude, grateful individuals take great joy in their blessings. It is a nicer place to be; when you are filled with gratitude you are happier. Their feelings are shared – they are not given away – there is no shortage as everyone can enjoy the feeling. Gratitude increases when it is shared amongst people.

Lastly, May you have a gratitude filled Happy Birthday!

- Flora Whittemore

When you get up in the morning, do you open the doors to a gratitude filled life? Do you immediately think of the things that increase your gratitude as soon as you wake up?

I have been doing this for quite some time now… years! And it is one of the best ways to open the door of the new day. When you wake up, ask your self, “What am I grateful for?” and start to mentally (or even write down) anything that comes to mind.

When it is time to close the door on the day, do the same thing. Perhaps, write then down in a Gratitude Journal.

Decide how you want to live. It is your choice.

Be Well.

In India, when we meet and greet and we say “Namaste”, which means: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. –Ram Dass

Enjoy the day and honor those around you as you shower them with gratitude.

- Julins Gordon

Holding a grudge helps no one. When you have gratitude in your heart, letting go is easier.

Open your heart, fill it with gratitude, and life is better.

Have a gratitude-filled Sunday.

Be Well.

You can see the items form 91 – 100 here.

Once again, I have been a little delinquent in updating my list. It certainly is NOT due to lack of wanting to, it is just that I have been a bit busy. But, no excuses here… let’s get cracking!

101. Prime Numbers! (Get it… 101 is a prime number!)

102. Binary numbers! (Get it 101 is a binary number – forget the fact that I am on #102)

103. Prime Numbers! Wait – I just used that one. How about I have a lot of gratitude for the window fan that is currently in my window cooling me off!

104. The Time To Eat diner – I like to go there for breakfast on Sundays.

105. Netflix – Gratitude to the max for getting movies delivered to me at home!

106. My Nikon D70S Camera – I love it!

107. Oh no! Not again… Prime Numbers! Actually, I love my iPhone. I am still using an older version (3G), but I love it!

108. There is lots of gratitude in my book for… my books! Right now, I am reading Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History – it is VERY good!

109. The Sound of Silence

110. Hong Kitchen and their General Tzo’s Shrimp!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

What I really liked about the short post was his last sentence which offers some wonderful advice:

So an important lesson: Everyone needs to feel appreciated and encouraged. Don’t pass up a chance to voice your gratitude for a job well done. Sure, this isn’t brain surgery but just some common sense advice to make this sometimes cold and cruel world a little softer and a little kinder.

Let people know that you are grateful for something that they do for you. Don;t take anyone ofr granted.  When you tell someone you are grateful for them, they will feel good! It is human nature! When you tell them this and they feel good, YOU will feel good as well! How can you possibly go wrong doing this?

I am glad I asked! I will tell you how to mess this up in an attempt to prevent the mess up from ever happening. Gratitude is meant to be sincere! If you go around spewing false statements (i.e., insincere) of gratitude to others, it will backfire! People can tell when you are being phony and will not like it at all! When you tell someone you are grateful for him/her, make sure you are saying it from the heart.

After all, isn’t that what a life full of gratitude is all about?

- Robert H. Schuller

Are you procrastinating something? Is there something that you want to do, but just don’t have things in place? Not ready to start it yet because everything is not perfect?

Here is my advice – just get started! What are you waiting for? Start now and make changes as you go along. Look at it this way – if you just start and do a little bit each day, at the end of 3-months you will have something. It still might not be perfect, but you will have something! If you do nothing, and wait until the time is perfect, at the end of 3-months, you may still have… nothing!

Be Well.

As Robin would say, “Holy Cyclical Cycles, Batman!” But, you know what? The Boy Wonder would be correct!

It doesn’t matter what you have, or how much you have of it! Be grateful for whatever it is, and however much you have. That is where you need to start! If you are grateful for what you have, you WILL get more for which you can be grateful again!

When you get more, you will have more to be grateful for. Then you get more. And you will be more grateful. Then you get more.

And you will be more grateful. And so on. And so on. And so on.

How come the simple things always seem hard??

Check out this cool story on the blog (just click and read – simple Not Hard!

Be Well.

We are seniors who just like everyone else were living their lives and getting along financially as best we could. Then we turned around and we were old.

Married 50 years and still together, how wonderful is that right? Plus, we had pretty good health and only one bad health scare.

Then we took a hard look at the finances and knew we would have to sell our home. Plus we should have anyway. Turns out we wouldn’t get enough to pay all the bills. So we were one of the seniors that declared bankruptcy. Does anyone have any idea how hard that is cause you can’t make your credit back up if you can no longer work!

However, after saying all that… We are still together in a wonderful place to live, have enough food and then some, still have reasonable health and we know that all we have is NOW. Plus we know you can’t take the money with you when you move on so to say we are grateful is an understatement.

The lesson is for goodness sake pay yourself first and save for retirement. It would be a lot more fun with money.

Wow! Isn’t that the truth? When you surround yourself with gratitude, your conditions really don’t matter as much as you may think they do – you perceive things differently! Reality is what you want it to be (until you go off the Deep End. Ha! The Deep End!) In all seriousness – the saying that ‘Anything is possible’ is so very true. Have you read about the gratitude I felt when I gave away my pick-up truck? That was a great day.

Go fill your destiny with gratitude!

Not to debate religious beliefs or compare religion in this post, I just want to say that gratitude is good. Period. I was brought up in a household that had a father who was the choir director at a Temple, and a mother who taught Sunday School. I certainly was exposed to both the Jewish and the Protestant religions. My sister, my brother, and I were each permitted to make our own decisions on what we wanted to do.

In all 3 of our cases, I think that we all appreciate gratitude regardless of which direction we went!

Gratitude is good – plain and simple.

- LeRoy Eims

Actions speak louder than words. And your behavior tells what you are feeling and what you believe.

At times, you may think you are grateful. You may even convince yourself that you are. But until you *feel* the gratitude, it is not true.

Let me first say that thinking you are grateful is better than not. However, when you experience the gratitude – when you are emotionally involved – then you know for sure that you experiencing gratitude! At this level, the emotional level, your behavior will absolutely reflect it.

Seek deep and will will experience it!

Be Well.

- Lyrics from Inside Us All by Creed

When you are in a state of gratitude, you are actually feeling a calm peacefulness. Gratitude is different than excitement, or high energy. You may be grateful and feel the energy, but when an emotional connection is made with gratitude you are calm

And that is a good thing.

Be Well.

When I went to college, (I graduated from  Rochester Institute of Technology), at the time there was no way that my Father and Mother could afford it! I had the mindset that if I could get admitted, I would attend and I would figure out the money later on. I was excited when I did get my acceptance letter from the Admissions Department that invited me up for the next 5-years (yup! it was designed to be 5-years… 4-years of studies and 1-year of Co-op experience). My college experience, tuition payments, and lack of funds is a whole other story for another time.

But when I was in college, I ended up buying two new cars for my family. Now, I didn’t have a job at the time – I was working just to pay for college and I am not sure how I managed all of that. But the point is at the time all my friends thought I was crazy! They were were asking me,  “What are you doing? Children don’t buy cars for their parents! It is the other way around! Parents are supposed to do things for their kids. ” And I remember saying to them, “You know what?They have done a lot for me, they have helped me out, they have provided for me all these years, and if this is something I can do for them, that’s what I am going to do.”

Looking back, it was at this point I realized that I was grateful for what they did and how they raised me. The gratitude has been around for quite a long time. As things continued, I just continued to share and give and do for anyone that needed something like that.

Once I realized that having a certain level of gratitude can make life easier, I simply continued to look on the bright side, be grateful, and enjoy life.

- Michael Nolan

To live a life of gratitude, you have to have a life full of emotion! Get Fired Up! Feel the energy! Embrace the Passion!

When your heart is engaged, you will be drawn to an activity, a person, an event, a place, or a thought. Follow the feeling!

Logic will only get you so far.

Besides – have you every felt truly grateful and felt lifeless at the same time? It ain’t gonna happen!

Go celebrate and live today!

Be Well.

So many snippets that are wonderful! Many are from interviews, some are from his movies. There is a lot of inspiration in this 10 minute video.

If you want to see other pages of videos that I have included on this site, check out: Video page.

Be full of gratitude, and Be Well.

About the Author:

NANCY LEIGH DEMOSS mentors millions of women through Revive Our Hearts and the True Woman Movement, calling them to heart revival and biblical womanhood. Her love for the Word and the Lord Jesus are infectious, and permeate her online outreaches, conference messages, books, and two daily nationally syndicated radio programs—Revive Our Hearts and Seeking Him with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Her books have sold more than 1,000,000 copies.  For more information, visit  www.reviveourhearts.com.

If you are looking to choose gratitude and increase your spirituality, this is clearly a good selection for you.

- Albert Einstein

After spending the weekend in Florida (Thursday – Sunday), I figure it is time to post another 10 items.

91. Erik, Lisa, Melody, Sam, and Neil – Thanks for the hospitality (and phone call) this past weekend. It was great to see you all!

92. All the great people I met at Early to Rise – thanks for all the great tips and pointers to make this site a much better one. With that said, look out for some changes that are in progress for www.AllAboutGratitude.com

93. Those 2 bicycle guys who were brothers. Thanks to the Wright Brothers for getting this whole Air Travel thing going! How awesome is it that I can be in NJ one moment, and in just a few hours later, I am in Florida?

94. Angelina Jolie. Thanks for putting together a pretty cool movie – Salt. Lisa took, “The Taubman Boys” out to see it last night.

95. Free Internet service at the West Palm Beach International Airport. (Newark, NJ does NOT have it…)

96. Car Radios that let me plug my iPod into it.

97. Nerds and Runts. That is all I am going to say!

98. Helpful staff at the airlines. Even during a delay, they smile.

99. Free Refills.

100. I have more gratitude simply for listing out these 100 items! Yippee!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

I am currently at the Palm Beach International airport awaiting my flight back to New Jersey. My flight was *supposed* to depart at 5:00 pm, but the announcement was just made that will we be leaving here tonight at 7:00pm, if we are lucky! The good news is the aircraft is here at the gate, but the powers that be will not let us take off due to weather.

How can this be good?I could complain, be ticked off, yell at the Representative at the gate and be in a foul mood for the rest of the night. Not much gratitude there, is there!

Or I can look at in another way, sprinkle some gratitude on the situation, and smile! After all, it gives me a chance to write this blog entry as well as get some uninterrupted work time that was not scheduled! Sure, I can work on the plane, but I never get as much done working on that little tray table!

With that said, I will posting this entry and working on some other great things! Remember – gratitude makes situations much easier!

- Charlie Munger

As I listneded to Jimmy singing like only he can sing it, the song immediately reminded me that having gratitude in your mindet can help with any “misfortunate” even that might arise. It does not matter how big or small this non-fortunate event is! If you simply take a step back and reassess the situation (and think gratitude), you  might find out that life is not as bad as you may think at the moment of  distress! The chorus of the lyrics say:

No plane on sunday
Maybe be one come monday
Just a hopeless situation
Make the best of it’s all you can do
’til they get through

Poor Jimmy is stuck on an island and there is no plane to take him back to the mainland until Monday. Oh no! What to do… What to do?

The best thing to do in any situation is to make the most of it! Many people would not see it as a problem if you are “stuck” on an island for an extra day. Why is it easier to deal with an extra day on a Caribbean island than it is to deal with a flat tire? How come some people are happier to see goodness in one situation and not another? Shouldn’t gratitude occur regardless of the situation?

The next time you find yourself in a situation that is not going as planned, be grateful! There will be something good that becomes of it – you may have to look twice, or search for it, but if you seek with gratitude, you will certinally find that things needs not be so bad!

- Richard Wagner

How much joy do you have? Does it come naturally or do you have to work at it? What is holding back more joy from coming to you? Are you looking externally, or do you realize that joy comes from within?

You have the choice to choose how you feel about things. No one (and nothing) has control over you. The only true influential factor of how you feel is you!

Pretty scary and exciting both at the same time!

Be Well.

- Bhagavad Gita

Is it possible to feel joy for EVERYTHING in your life? The Good? The Bad? The Ugly? Can gratitude transcend all?

I think the answer is yes! Yes it can. But for most people, it is not easy.

In the short term, recharging your gratitude batteries is easy. Making it last takes some work.

I wrote some more on this over at the blog:

http://allaboutgratitude.com/blog/1607/gratitude-recharges-your-life/ ?

Be Well.

Another quick pick-me-up is humor! Take a break (even if it is for 5 minutes) and watch your favorite comedy! I have also found that listening to music is another great way to recharge your batteries.

Please leave a comment and let me know what the methods that you use to recharge your gratitude batteries.

I am back! I took a couple days off with the list, only because I have been running around like crazy these past few days! Let the list continue!

81. My Herman Miller Chair – I spend a lot of time at my computer in my home office and although it was financially more costly than an inexpensive chair, I am grateful that I purchased it!

82. Tomorrow is Linda’s last day of working with us. I know that she will be missed!

83. Having lunch with Linda in a couple of weeks brings me anticipated Gratitude! Yippee!

84. I certainly cannot forget this one! The Alexa ranking for  www.AllAboutGratitude.com has broken through the 300,000 mark! That means that we are in the top 300,000 websites in the World! WOW! Here is a post I wrote about the Alexa Rankings.

85. I am grateful that I was able to pay my tax bill today without getting any fees or fines assessed!

86. Last weekend I visited my sister and her family. Today I am STILL eating all the tomatoes she sent home with me.

87. Going to the bank today brought me more gratitude as my Deposits were more than the bills I was paying!

88. I am so happy and grateful that I will be visiting my Brother and his family this weekend down in Delray Beach, Fl.

89. I certainly am grateful that I am going to the Golden Ticket on Friday!

90. Almost over looked this one.. I use a Calisto Bluetooth earpiece. It is awesome! I can answer my cell phone with it, I can answer my home phone with it, and I can even use it with my MagicJack!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

– Bill Cosby

This quote certainly hit home for me this past weekend but with a little bit of a twist…

I was not trying to please everyone, but I was trying to make life easier for a lot of people at once. Probably too many people. In a way, that is like trying to please everyone. When you go out of your way to make life easier for others, your own life becomes much more complicated and does not let your life “flow” easier.

It was a realization that smacks you on the side of the head – it was as if the obvious walked right in front of me, grabbed my head, and spread my eyelids open.

You have to look out for #1 first. You need to care for yourself before helping anyone else. You need to put on your oxygen mask so you will be able to assist others.

This is clearly obvious and I could have given the same advice.

For me, it was a good lesson to re-learn. I guess I never really learned it correctly the first time.

Be Well.

– Og Mandino

Thanks for the quote, Eva!

I receive a lot of emails from people saying that my quotes are spiritual. People tell me I should provide quotes on materialism and tangible things. The truth is that I think the majority of the quotes can address both sides of the coin; spirituality as well as materialism!

When you read the quotes, think about what it is that you are looking for – not what you don’t want to see! If you are religious, the quotes can be religious. If you are looking for “things”, use that angle.

Gratitude works well on all levels!

Deja Vu!

Be Well.

Here is an Amazon Book Review to kick things off!

“I’m thankful to Mary Jane Ryan because her candid and story-filled book reminds me to return to my heart-the home of gratitude- and consequently, enhances my connection with all that is wonderful and wise around and within me.” – Sue Patton Thoele, bestselling author of Woman’s Book of Courage, and Courage to be Yourself

…an inspirational treasure. A gift for the self or for those who might need a warm and gentle nudge to adjust their attitude. T.W. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

Exquisitely reconnects us to the wonder and satisfaction which can be found in our daily lives….A delightful book for anyone who wants to focus on the joy and satisfaction in their everyday life. – Judy Ford, author of Wonderful Ways to Love a Child”

In this inspiring book, author M.J. Ryan shows readers how to nurture this attitude every day of their lives. Short, easy-to-digest essays explain why gratitude chases away negative emotions – and how gratitude is possible even in times of pain and hardship. [End of Amazon's content]

This is a great little book that I frequently carry around with me. My wife actually picked this book up for me a present a year ago or so and I find it a quick read and to the point. There are many short little anecdotes that need not be read in order. If/when I need a quick gratitude pick-me-up, I know that I can always turn to this book and glen some nugget quickly!

If you are looking for a good book on gratitude, this is an exceptional place to start! For about the cost of 2 cups of coffee at the local high priced coffee place (I am a huge fan of theirs you can pick up a copy of this book! Click on the picture for more info at Amazon.

Be Well and share your attitude of gratitude with everyone you see today!

If we number the alphabet 1-26, A being number and Z being number 26 and spell out the word and add up the corresponding numbers:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K = 98%

and

K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E = 96%

but

A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E = 100%!!!!

Go ahead and try it!  The point is that our attitude is the number one factor in determining everything in our lives.  It is the one aspect that we have constant control over. How is your attitude? Do you have an attitude of Gratitude? Do you have a high self-esteem? Are you in control?

Your mindset plays a lot with how you see yourself as well as your attitude. Make sure you stay away from Stinkin’ Thinkin’! Concentrate on your levels of gratitude throughout the day. When is it higher? When does it drop? What can you do to increase your levels of gratitude?

Go out and share your Attitude of Gratitude with everyone you see!

Take a peek at the Menu Bar. There are 2 new links: Past Quotes and 1,001.

Past Quotes now displays previous Gratitude Quotes of the Day. It will take me a while to load in all the history, but all the quotes will be there on a go-forward basis.

1,001 is my personal list of 1,001 things that bring me more gratitude! I am writing about 10 each day. They are timely “things” that inspired me at the point I was listing them out. Sometimes they are just a numbered list and other times they will have more details surrounding them!

I hope you take a moment to look at the new links and let me know what you think!

Be Well. And by the way… Leaving comments will also bring me more Gratitude!

- Og Mandino

Thanks for the quote, Eva!

Gratitude works well on all levels!

Be Well.

I am grateful for:

71. Watching the movie with George Clooney, “Up In the Air” – I am grateful for laughing after having a bad day!

72. Earlier this evening, I had a great Chicken Parm sandwich for dinner!

73. I am happy that I got to do a few things that I have been putting off.

74. RedBox! Movie rentals for a buck make me smile! And I am grateful that there is one close to home! (Two actually – Double the Gratitude!)

75. Watching Rachel use the sling shot to shoot acorns at the watering can!

76. Knowing that Jose and Chris are on vacation – different vacations.

77. A well-charged cordless phone (definitely better than one where the battery is dying!)

78. I am filled with gratitude for tomorrow being Monday! A lot of people don’t like Mondays… I do!

79. Sitting out on the patio just relaxing!

80. Knowing that it is ok to spill some wine every now and then!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

- Courtland Milloy

Have you thanked your family and friends today?

Just a thought…

Be Well.

I am grateful for:

61. My morning coffee as I relax and enjoy the Saturday morning.

62. My Keurig coffee machine – while some people may say it makes me lazy, i say it offers convenience!

63. I have more gratitude as I feel the anticipation of seeing my sister, her husband, and my nieces later this morning!

64. Yesterday at work, a stray (?) dog was wandering the parking lot. He was a nice old puppy, but had some bad cuts and scrapes on his paws. A co-worker and I brought him into the building, gave him water and some food (lunch leftovers) while help was called. He was such a happy puppy! He made me smile!

65. The smell of the early morning outside.

66. Electricity! Imagine life without it! i can’t! No computers, no lights, no radio music, no eight-track tapes… Hmmm..

67. Just took a sip of my coffee as I am typing this. I am grateful for the workers that picked my coffee in South America!

68. My Victrola that I purchased years ago from the clock dealer in Rochester, NY when I was with Ric!

69. I have more gratitude in my life because the simple things like my razor and shaving cream! Although I have not shaved in 2 weeks, I think it might be time. The other day I mentioned an Origins’ product, Modern Friction. The shaving cream I use, Blade Runner, is also from Origins’ and I simple LOVE it! (maybe I should get Origin’s to sponsor me

70. You! Have I mentioned that I am grateful for all the people that are reading my blog?

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

- Walt Disney

The simple things often work the best! Use the K.I.S.S. method – Keep It Simple, Silly!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Be Well.

I am grateful for:

51. My desert tonight at Starbucks – Triple Venti White Chocolate Mocha with Raspberry. It was heaven!

52. Getting rewarded today at work and being allowed to watch a movie at lunch time!

53. Picking up a Hard Drive Enclosure for a family member’s dead computer – I got all the data back!

54. Creating the Archive for previous Quotes that have been sent out!

55. Hearing that the FaceBook Security video helped someone out!

56. The Birds that I feed every morning.

57. The cool way to make deposits at Chase on my iPhone! Just like taking a picture of the check and sending it in!

58. The sound of the crickets that I hear as I type out this list.

59. Saving the recording of the Tele-Training from last night.

60. And last but not least, for Brynn’s birthday today! Happy Birthday, Brynn!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

- Ken Keyes, Jr.

What a great Tele-Training session last night! One of the things we talked about on the call was your Mindset! Ken Keyes surely knew about about mindset!

Do you dwell on negativity? Or do you look for the goodness where ever you go?

Do you harp on “bad things” like breaking your leg, being immobile, and stuck on the couch? Or do you focus on the opportunity to heal, the ability to read/learn, and the forced down time?

Both are the same situation, the only difference is how you think about it.

Enjoy the weekend and be mindful of your thoughts!

Have you shown gratitude for you body lately? Our bodies really are temples.  Think about everything they do for us. If you stopped for a moment and show your gratitude towards yourself, you will see how much your physical being has to offer not only you, but everyone else. Your flesh and bones are beautiful, graceful and powerful structures that provide the ability to heal, nurture and provide a vessel for our spiritual self. By honoring and giving gratitude for this vessel, we are really saying Thanks to that which created it! Express your gratitude to your maker be it the Universe, God, Allah, Being, Consciousness or who/what ever you believe in.

Expressing your gratitude for your body need not be limited to just speaking it or thinking it. Give your body the best food, exercise and care that you can.  Eat healthy, whole, living foods as much as possible.  Reduced the amount of junk food you eat. Try to limit or even stop intake of animal, processed foods and dairy products.  Eat whole wheat instead of white bread.  Eat brown rice instead of white rice. Drink a tall glass of purified water before meals and go for a walk after you eat.

Of course you should include a regular routine of exercising  every day (or at least every other day). If you start simply be elevating your heart rate to the correct level (not straining yourself), you would be surprised to see how much  just half an hour a day can change not only your body, but your mind and spirit as well.

Have gratitude to your body for all it does for you.  Be grateful for the body you have and care for your body no matter the weight, shape, height or condition. Even if you want to change your body, accepting it in the current state is important to facilitate the changes you want to see.  Promise your body continued love and nurturing. Be grateful that you are able to walk, talk, dance, sing, see, hear and all of the things we seem to take for granted on a daily basis.

Last but not least, listen to what your body has to say.  It tells you what it needs and when it needs it.  Often times our minds/emotions can play tricks on us but our body is always honest with us.  Love and nurture yourselves and amazing results will quickly follow. Gratitude comes easier when you mind and body are in tune with one another.

Be Well.

With no disrespect to Sonny & Cher – “And the List Goes On…”

41. The glorious rain that came today!

42. The cooler temperatures that accompanied the rain today brings me more gratitude.

43. I am grateful for the Headstone that arrived for my mother-in-law.

44. Jose and his trust to provide me his account and password to work on his website with him.

45. The 70+ people that signed up for the Tele-Training class tonight.

46. My awesome co-workers – a meeting was rescheduled so I didn’t have to call into the meeting when I was at home.

47. All the help my Brother, Erik, provided to me. The Gratitude is oozing out to him!

48. I am grateful that the cup only had a little bit of wine when I dropped it!

49. The Cluck U coupon that let me get 5 pieces of chicken for free when I purchased 5 pieces of chicken!

50. iTunes!

I am officially 1/2% of the way to completing my list of 1,001 items that bring more gratitude to me!

You are invited to list something(s) that brings more gratitude to you by leaving some comments to this posting. Keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers to the age old question of, “What bring more gratitude to you?” Each person will certainly have different answers. The reason I am doing this in chunks of 10 is that I am interested in looking back (in 100 days from now) and seeing how my perspective has changed.

Be Well. May your Gratitude increase as the day continues on.

- Judy Collins

Here is a more information I wrote about keeping a Gratitude Journal:
http://allaboutgratitude.com/blog/101/gratitude-journal/

Tonight is the Tele-Training! Have you signed up yet?
http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Be Well.

I don’t know why, but I love what Morpheus says to Neo: “You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there is something wrong with the world, you don’t know what it is, but it’s there. Like a splinter in your mind. Driving you mad. It is this feeling that brought you to me.”

Sometimes I feel that Gratitude is like that! It may be difficult to explain, but you certainly can feel it. And you know it is out there. There is something wrong with the world. There is room for more gratitude!

OK – I admit it… it was a stretch to put one of my favorite movies and gratitude together… But it can be done!

Be Well.

- Henry Van Dyke

I just realized that the quote did not get sent out this morning! I am looking into what happened… Sorry for the delay!

In unrelated tech issues (?) the sign up process for the Tele-Training is having a hiccup as well! If you are interested in signing up, please do so sooner, rather than later. Last time
people were signing up at the last minute. There is a manual process that happens behind the scenes. If people sign up last minute, you may not get the link to connect to view online. If you think you will be signing up, please do so now.

Tele-Training info: http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Thanks.

32. My Boss – it is nice to be back

33. GotoWebinar for making the Tele-Training possible!

34. My HRM – Heart Rate Monitor so I can train effectively and efficiently

35. EZ-Pass – I save time everyday by NOT having to stop at the tolls here in NJ!

36. My water Filter!

37. Dinner tonight – left-overs from 2 nights ago! Just as good as it was then!

38. Chris, Debbie and his family – they are going on vacation today.

39. My Little Leather Journal

40. Online Hotel Reservation Systems!

Does anything come to your mind right now that brings you more gratitude? Click on the comment link above and share them!

Be Well.

Executing an Attitude of Gratitude becomes easier when you practice it! As my father always told me and my Sister and Brother, “Practice Makes Perfect.” With that said, you need to practice being grateful. There are so many distractions out there! You cannot take your “eyes off the prize.” Remind yourself that you want to be grateful and then do it.

Go out and express some gratitude RIGHT NOW. And Later. And tonight! Definitely tonight! And tomorrow morning too.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Care to get some pointers in becoming more grateful? Check out the Tele-Training on Thursday!

Be Well.

It really does not get easier than that! Not much left to say!

Only a couple more days left to sign up for the Interactive Gratitude Tele-Training. If you would like to join in on a discussion of gratitude, please come to the NO cost Tele-Training on August 12th. You can dial in from the comfort of your own home!
For additional information, please check out Tele-Training info:

http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Be Well.

The first level of gratitude could be thought of as Being thankful for things in our lives. This is at a conscious level. Listing out the 1,001 Things that bring me more gratitude is at this level. I am consciously listing physical and material things, people, and events that I am grateful for. It requires me to think of the various things in order to list them down. This is not a bad level to be at for it puts me in a mindset of gratitude.

The more I am in the mindset, the easier it will be to re-visit this level. Being grateful is a skill that you can develop. Just like playing a sport, the more you practice, the better you will become at being grateful.

The extreme level of gratitude would be when you evolve into a Grateful Being. (In this case, extreme is not a bad thing). At this level gratitude encompasses everything we do; we eat, sleep, drink, talk, walk, and exude gratitude. With each sub conscious function, we feel grateful. Gratitude is not only a part of our life, but it IS our life. Achieving this state takes practice;  it takes a lot of it for most people.

You are probably somewhere in-between these two states. Enjoy where you are, determine where you want to be, and move in that direction.

Be Well.

Here I am, reading over the questions and formulating some anecdotes when I realized that I need to post 10 things which bring more Gratitude to me! Time is running out! So without further adieu, here is today’s list:

21. The Tele-Training this Thursday (want more info? Click here -> Gratitude Tele-Training

22. The nice person who let me in at the traffic light.

23. The leftover Cluck-U chicken wings I had for dinner tonight/last night… a few hours ago! They hit the spot!

24. The “First Day of School” pictures of my niece! Such a Cutie Pie!

25. I am soo grateful and excited that I will get to see her and her family in a couple of weeks!

26. Origin’s Modern Friction – I think I am high maintenance now!

27. My hand and arm massage this evening.

28. Boney James for the wonderful music he creates.

29. The ability to type out this list.

30. My iHome clock radio that wakes me in the morning to my “Wake Up” Playlist.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your day!

Be Well.

- Denis Waitley

I’ll start right off and admit that this quote may seen like it is not 100% geared towards gratitude! However, when you become more grateful you will start to be different. You will be feeling different. You will be evolving and changing. Your friends and family will notice a difference. Some will like it while others may not like it.

Those who do not like it do so because they do not want to see you excel and move ‘ahead’ of them. They will be weary that the relationship will change (and it will). As the saying goes, “I  won’t forget where I came from,” you may decide that you do not want to be with some negative, complaining, whining, bad attitude people. It is a lot of work to be there!

You naturally gravitate to like minded people. This is not a bad thing! Charlie “Tremendous” Jones says, “You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.”

Who are you meeting? With whom are you associating? Are you moving ahead, or are you going backwards?

If you would like to join in on a discussion of gratitute, please come to the NO cost Tele-Training on August 12th. You can dial in from the comfort of your own home! For additional information, please check out:
Tele-Training info: http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Be Well.

11. I am grateful for my bike ride this past weekend. Already August, it was my first ride this summer (my apologies to Jose for not calling – it was an impromptu ride that NEEDED to be done!)

12. My gratitude increased today as the culmination of a long project at work (started last October) successfully completed! Thanks Team!

13. I am grateful to be planning something secret; You know what it is if it is for you.

14. I am so happy and grateful that I ‘discovered’ the setting on the sprinkler system for ‘Distance’! Ahhh the little things that I can celebrate!

15. I am grateful for the waitress at the diner for making the meal enjoyable! Sunday is “Breakfast at the Diner Day”

16. My WRX (a Subaru!) – many people know how much I love my little scooter!

17. I am grateful for the Farmers who grow the organic produce that I pick up each week.

18. My carbonator – I make seltzer water all the time!

19. The cool breeze on the hot day!

20. My iPhone for bringing me the ability (among other things) to know if my FaceBook account is getting hacked! (if you want to know how, click here)

Thanks for sharing these 10 things with me. I hope you will share at least 1 or 2 things that bring you more gratitude! Please click where it says comments above.

Be Well.

- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Today quote is related to the blog. I have talked about keeping a Gratitude Blog and listing things for which you are grateful. Occasionally I have listed a few things of my own in the blog.

Starting today, I am challenging myself to list 1,001 things that bring me more gratitude! I will be listing 10 things a day for 100 days (somewhere in there I will list 11 items!)

I invite you to read them. For those of you who do not know what a blog is – do not panic! It is only a website! If you click on:

http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/blog/

you will see short articles, videos, pictures and other assorted goodies that you can enjoy. The main theme there… you guessed it! GRATITUDE! I invite you to take a gander and see if anything interests you. Again, that is http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/blog/ – I am sure you will find something thought provoking!

Come join me and see that my list of 1,001 Gratitude items becomes. I invite you to share some things that my be on your list – or even better – accept the challenge with me! Start your own list of 1,001 things that bring you gratitude!

One quick announcement – have you looked into the upcoming NO COST Tele-Training on Gratitude? Join in on the fun for an hour or so! More information is available at:

http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Until tomorrow -
Be Well.

Although I am not sure what I am going to be doing, I will still keep up the blog as it is – a mix of thoughts, videos, pictures, etc.  I think that some days will be an expansion of the 10 things – I will include a bit about each item. And other days will be the usual types of posts you have come to enjoy. At the bottom of these posts you will see a running list… that day’s 10 items (or so) will be listed without much fanfare!

I certainly appreciate if anyone cares to comment and leave a list of anywhere from 1 thing to 10 (or more). After all, I get tired from doing all the talking

To start off the list (in no particular order):

1. Kim, Paulette, Erik, Brian, Lisa, Brynn, Rachel, Neil, Melody, Sammy, Carrie, Jennifer, Kevin, RJ, Tori, Kelly, Kristen, and everyone else.
2. My computer
3. My job (I worked all day and night on Friday, and I get to have more fun today!)
4. The ceiling fan that is keeping me cool right now as I types this out!
5. The pictures of me my relatives keep sending to me telling me I look like Bob (Yup! I am grateful for that too!)
6. The bottle of carbonated water that I made myself. I smile every time I drink from it because I link water with gratitude!
7. Time Machine on my Mac! As I type this, I can hear my backup software hard at work, so I don’t have to! (You do have backups of your computer, right?)
8. The people that I have come to know via FaceBook – (if you are on FB, click on the Friend Me button in the upper-right corner).
9. My chair – it was an expensive purchase when I bought my chair, but I love it!
10. This blog – it allows me to share my thoughts with you all.

Until tomorrow!

Be Well.

- Daphne Rose Kingman

This is proof that there are no “little things” when dealing with Gratitude! Every bit matters – each Thank You and every grateful thought plants a seed that will continue to grow. As water ripples out further and further, so does a kind thought, a nice smile, a warm thank you, and a simple compliment.

It is never too late to start being grateful, nor is it to late to continue to spread the love and spread the gratitude!

If you are interested in learning more about being more grateful, please join us for the Tele-Training on August 12th. For additional information, please check out:
Tele-Training info: http://www.AllAboutGratitude.com/ask/

Be Well.

Check out this awesome study!

Smiles are contagious! Most of the time if you smile at someone, they end up smiling back at you!

Go out and smile today! Smile a lot! Smile Often!

Be Well.

I read this before and I have read this again – each time it is a great reminder not to sit around, do nothing, and be stagnant! If you have to sit, always be thinking!

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve…

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a lion or gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Be Well.

Children do this all the time. If something does not turn out the way they want, they yell, “Do Over!” Do you remember playing Kick Ball in the road? You get a bad kick… What do you do? You yell, “Do Over!” The other team complains a little, but you get another chance. This was a frequent event not only in Kick Ball, but in just about everything children do!

So why then, do adults have such a hard time saying, “Do Over!” Your business not work out the way you wanted? “Do Over!” Did you buy a car that you realized that you did not like? “Do Over!” How about accepting a job that turned out to be something that you were not expecting? “Do Over!” Or my favorite… You write a blog entry that no one comments on… “Do Over!”

There is no need to hem and haw as an adult! Think about it. As a child, who made the rules? The ADULTS! Now we are adults, we can make the rules. Why don’t we? Why don’t we say “Do Over” more often?

Sure there are “reasons”; we can “rationalize” anything. You cannot call “Do Over” at your new job! You have to be a martyr and stick it out – earn a paycheck (even if you do not like your job???). This is crazy! Did you business “fail”? Who says you cannot start another one. I can hear the average person, “You were not successful at your own business. You cannot try it again!” Why not? Did you stop trying to tie your shoelaces the first time it did not work out? What if your parents stopped you from walking after you fell down the first 100 times!

Come on… If something does not work out today, call “Do Over!” and try it again!

Be Well.

I met Jack a few years ago (there is a picture of him and I posted on FaceBook); I remember him talking about the Hour of Power. I kept it up for a while – it was great! Personally, I have difficulty getting all 3 done BEFORE my day starts, but I manage to get them in most of the time. But starting Wednesday, I will be re-committed to give it a shot!

Feel free to leave some comments on your progress or just your thoughts about this!

Anyone else game?

Be Well.

Paul.

The more you practice it, the better you will get at it.

Just like playing a musical instrument. And coming from that musical background, trust me, I know all about practicing. The more you practice it, the more cognizant you are about what it is you are thinking. As you consciously think about gratitude and being more grateful you will start to increase the levels you experience.

It is the opposite of Out of Sight, Out of Mind. Having it on your mind triggers you to do it. My father had a phrase he liked to use – “You have a one track mind.” My siblings or I would get something in our heads and just focus on it constantly.

If you think about

It is almost surreal when you start to think about what you are thinking about. Not just thinking things, but think about what you are thinking. And ask yourself, “Is this serving me the best way? Is this the best way I should be thinking?” A lot of times you may catch yourself going, “Oh! That is just wrong. Let me change that and continue on.”

Try associating something with gratitude. For me, I use water. Whenever I see water, I think about something for which I am grateful. When I drink a glass of water, I think about it. When I pass a lake as I am driving, I think about it. Water has become my trigger for gratitude. Even though it is in the forefront of my mind most of the time, water will force me to think of something!

When I go swimming – OMG! I come out of the water filled with gratitude! Each stroke I think of something, someone, somewhere, and some how… I am elated by the time I exit the water!

Practice being grateful and you will find that it gets easier and easier. You will soon see that you have a higher level of gratitude in your life!

Be Well.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! No one can be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I always choose the positive side of life.”

“But it’s not always that easy,” I protested.

“Yes, it is,” Jerry said, “Life is all about choices When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. It’s your choice how you live your life.”

Several years later, I heard that Jerry accidentally did something you are never supposed to do in the restaurant business: he left the back door of his restaurant open one morning and was robbed by three armed men. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Want to see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place.

“The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door,” Jerry replied. “Then, after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or choose to die. I chose to live.”

“Weren’t you scared?” I asked.

Jerry continued, “The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked. “Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me,” said Jerry. “She asked if I was allergic to anything.”‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I am alive, not dead’.

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude.

I learned from him that everyday you have the choice to either enjoy your life or to hate it. The only thing that is truly yours – that no one can control or take from you — is your attitude, so if you can take care of that, everything else in life becomes much easier.

Here is Craig Morgan’s song, This Ain’t Nothin’

He was standing in the rubble of an old farmhouse outside Birmingham
When some on the scene reporter stuck a camera in the face of that old man
He said “tell the folks please mister, what are you gonna do
Now that this twister has taken all that’s dear to you”
The old man just smiled and said “boy let me tell you something, this ain’t nothing”

He said I lost my daddy, when I was eight years old,
That cave-in at the Kincaid mine left a big old hole,
And I lost my baby brother, my best friend and my left hand
In a no win situation in a place called Vietnam
And last year I watched my loving wife, of fifty years waste away and die
And I held her hand til her heart of gold stopped pumping,
So this ain’t nothin’

He said I learned at an early age,
There’s things that matter and there’s things that don’t
So if you’re waiting here for me to cry,
I hate to disappoint you boy, but I won’t
Then he reached down in the rubble and picked up a photograph
Wiped the dirt off of it with the hand that he still had
He put it to his lips and said man she was something
But this ain’t nothin’

He said I lost my daddy, when I was eight years old,
That cave-in at the Kincaid mine left a big old hole,
And I lost my baby brother, my best friend and my left hand
In a no win situation in a place called Vietnam
And last year I watched my loving wife, of fifty years waste away and die
We were holding hands when her heart of gold stopped pumping
So this ain’t nothin’

This ain’t nothin’ time won’t erase
And this ain’t nothin’ money can’t replace
He said you sit and watch your loving wife fifty years fighting for her life
Then you hold her hand til her heart of gold stops pumping
Yeah boy that’s something,
So this ain’t nothin’
No this ain’t nothin’

Be Well.

Yikes! Not a good thing to have show up!

What does that mean? Not to get too technical, it means that I had too many people coming to the website! I guess that is a good problem to have! This also validates that people are coming to the site!

I fixed the problem by letting the tech team know that All About Gratitude is growing and it is time to get some extra bandwidth! This is similar to calling a limo company and saying, “I need a limo” and getting a Town Car. The next time a limo is required, a STRETCH limo is needed! The next time… A PARTY BUS has to be sent… And so on! How exciting!

Thank you for checking in and reading the blog. Thanks for watching the videos. Thanks for leaving the comments! I am truly grateful that we have grown and have such a following!

(Now, if I can only get people to leave comments…

Be Well.

If something does not go as planned, Don’t give up! Just try something else. And maybe do it agin. And again. And again. And also remember to have fun while you are doing it. Don’t get frustrated. Remember that you are learning and growing.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Enjoy it!

Be Well.

Do you REALLY have any excuse for ANYTHING? If Nick can be thankful, I bet you can!

Be Well.

Appreciation – I actually looked this up – the first definition of Appreciate was: gratitude (like that is going to help this discussion!) and thankful recognition. The example given was, “They showed their appreciation by giving him a gold watch.” So I think appreciation is actually something that is felt by somebody. You feel it as an individual; something that is internal to a person. So you will feel appreciation for something.

The definition of gratitude is, “the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful. He expressed his gratitude to everyone on the committee. Now to show can these can be interchangeable – we can be grateful for something in our lives, and not appreciate it. I am sure that you can think of something that you are happy that it is there but you may not be actively appreciating it. And the inverse is true: we can appreciate something without actually be grateful for it. And that is called Taking advantage of it. So if you just appreciate it and don’t acknowledge it and don’t do anything about it, some people may say you are taking advantage of it or you are taking it for granted.

Be Well.

Thank You For Being A Friend
by Andrew Gold

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
your heart is true you’re a pal and a confidant

I’m not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won’t you stand up and take a bow

And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see, the biggest gift would be from me
and the card attached would say,
Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend
Thank you for being a friend

If it’s a car you lack
I’d surely buy you a cadillac
Whatever you need, anytime of the day or night

I’m not ashamed to say
I hope it always will stay this way
My hat is off, won’t you stand up and take a bow

And when we both get older
With walking canes and hair of gray
Have no fear, even though it’s hard to hear
I will stand real close and say,
Thank you for being a friend

(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Let me tell you bout a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend

And when we die and float away
Into the night, the Milky Way
You’ll hear me call, as we ascend
I’ll see you there, then once again
Thank you for being a friend

Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
(I want to thank you)
Thank you for being a friend
Whoa, tell you about a friend
(Thank you right now, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend
(I wanna tell you right now, and tell you again)
Thank you for being a friend
(I wanna thank you, thank you, for being a friend)
Thank you for being a friend

Be Well.

We decided to go Sky Diving (my first time, his second). We drove to the drop zone and had a choice to make. Take a full 8-hour training and jump solo, or take the shorter training of an hour (I think) and jump tandem with an instructor. Since we did not want to spend ALL day we opted for the tandem jump. We each had our jump videotaped as well as still shots. On the video, they used Van Halen’s song, Right Now, as the music. It is a great song that talks about The song reflects on living for the moment and not being afraid of making a change. Here is a picture when I jumped (you can click on it to see a larger picture):

Paul Sky Diving

And here is a video of Van Halen playing this song.

As for me, right now… What am I grateful for? I am grateful for being able to help out a friend and get her computer up and running. I am grateful that the sun is shinning out today. I am grateful for being presented with challenges that allow me to grow and expand and become a better person. And so much more.

Be Well.

Be Well.

Using the ‘alternate spelling’ or gratitude, GrATTITUDE, you can visually see how much gratitude depends on your attitude!

Ahhh – it is the simple things that I enjoy!

Be Well.

Two men were crossing the desert when they saw a Bedouin’s tent and asked him for shelter. Even though he did not know them, he welcomed them in the way that the conduct of nomads dictates: a camel was killed and its meat served in a sumptuous dinner.

The next day, the two strangers woke early and decided to continue on their journey. As the Bedouin was not at home, they gave his wife a hundred dinars, apologizing for not being able to wait, because if they spent any more time there, the sun would become too strong for them to travel.

They had traveled for four hours when they heard a voice calling out to them. They looked back and saw the Bedouin following them. As soon as he caught up with them, he threw the money to the ground.

“I gave you such a warm welcome! Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?”

In surprise, the strangers said that the camel were surely worth far more than that, but that they did not have much money.

“I am not talking about the amount,” was the answer. “The desert welcomes Bedouins wherever they go, and never asks anything in return. If we had to pay, how could we live? Welcoming you to my tent is like paying back a fraction of what life has given us.

Be Well.

Dear family and friends
I need to thank you
In this note that I’m sending you
I need to show my gratitude
I truly in that it is to you
Thank you for pulling me through

Refrain:
Dear family and friends
I really need to thank you
You are there for me
so I will always be – there for you
And this is how I show my gratitude

Dear momma let me start off with you
I know there ain’t a thing you wouldn’t do
to try and pull me through
And if there’s anything good to be said about me
Than it’s true that I owe it all to you

Remember back when we in the old apartement
With every minute that was spent was truly hard thugging
Even though pops was gone, I know you stood strong
(And if the crib need some comfort thought through song)

And in the end told me right from wrong shit
Even though I ended up doing some wrong shit
I came out of it, strong and fit and equiped
with the right state of mind to go and handle shit

Until my second died, It really makes me sad
I thought i’ll appreciate the thing that I had
And that’s some true fatherhood
and if I could love you more
than you know that I would and should for sure

Pops, I’m really glad we’re talking again
On the phone to Aruba, long distance and
Every instance when you tell me of the story by no guts of glory
I can assure you, you never worry
And assure you that Tamara loves you and
And I know that she knows that you love her too

So stop buggin dude
And go and give her a call
Mather of fact, here’s her number, cause we family y’all

Dear family and friends
I need to thank you
sending you
I need to show my gratitude
I truly in that it is to you
Thank you for pulling me through

Refrain

I wanna send my love to every girl I ever went with
who saw that thing in me that others couldn’t see
Now many do, and they’re giving love too
But it ain’t the same as the love I’ve gotten from you
So thank you, for that, stay true, to that
Even when other guys try to convince you I was wack
Staying back to back
is the reason why I love all the women in my life and that’s a fact

I’m so grateful for all of the love that I’ve gotten
Even when they are hateful and rotten
It ain’t forgotten, but I’m grateful for the negative
Cause through my music I can turn it into something positive
I guess this is how I live
I guess this is how I give
My love through this track
So please remember that

Dear family and friends
This is the way I send my love back.

Be Well.

If you ask me, one of the characters looks a lot like Bill Gates. Also, the ‘villain’ goes to the “Bank of Evil (formerly Lehman Brothers).’’

All in all, it was very entertaining! I recommend it.

Be Well.

You write, “Prayer is not sending in an order and expecting it to be fulfilled. Prayer is attuning yourself to the life of the world, to love, to the force that moves the sun and the moon and the stars.” When things are going well in my life I can relate to those words. But how can I understand this when I face a devastating medical diagnosis or am in the depths of depression?

The moment when you get bad news or are in a depression is not the moment to start attuning yourself in prayer. If you practice attuning yourself now, it will be relatively easy even in those very difficult times. If you live gratefully recognizing the good when you have a cup of tea or a comfortable seat or a nice conversation, then when something difficult comes along, this will not be the first moment when you wake up. Ninety-nine percent of the time we have an opportunity to be grateful for something. We just don’t notice it. We go through our days in a daze.

Be Well.

When it comes to bringing thoughts of gratitude to your mind, a gratitude walk is similar to the gratitude journal. Rather than taking the time to write down and record your thoughts in some sort of binder or journal, you generate a list of those things in your head while you go for a walk. For some people, myself included, I get into a rhythm of thinking to the beat of my walking stride.

For me, I have found that walking in a park or on a shady trail, or even deep in the woods works best! Anytime I go for a hike and am isolated from people and surrounded by nature, I feel much better. Many people feel better when you go out and get fresh air. This also helps clear your mind, provides a bit of exercise, gets your body moving, gets the blood flowing and overall puts you in a better frame of mind! (On a side note, I frequently will get up in the middle of the day while working at my desk, walk out the side door and come back in through the front door – this short 2 minutes sometimes will ‘re-boot’ me!)

If you are set in your habits of writing in your journal, try bringing it with you on a hike or walk, or, write in it once you complete your walk.

Thanks for sharing, Marco A.

Be Well.

Now, I could write all about the importance of being grateful for family and friends (and I will do that in a day or so), but today’s post is a mix-up of Social Media and my niece, Tori (Note to my other 8 Nieces and Nephews – I will write about each of you in upcoming blog entries

So (as my Dad used to say), “to make a long story longer…” last night I posted for the first time ever a video on FaceBook. It was a video that I filmed on my Flip Video camera of Tori. Many people take sites like FaceBook for granted. Many people do not realize the importance of social media sites like Twitter. Regardless of where you stand, I am happy that they have become wildly popular. I have connected with friends that I have not seen in years, rekindled friendships from long ago, and and enjoyed the reconnection.

The fact that I could share a video with other family members so easily is fantastic!

Ahhhh… it is the little things that make me happy!

Be Well.

By the way… here is a little ‘experiment’. If you use Twitter, Facebook, or have your own blog, check this out: Help spread the word and get a free Gratitude Report!

Even with no running water, gratitude can flow
BY SUSAN SCHWARTZ, THE GAZETTE JULY 12, 2010

It was the country -and things happen.

In this case, what happened is that on Saturday morning, not 12 hours after we’d arrived, the water supply to the house suddenly stopped.

The pump, thought to be the problem, was replaced by Monday morning -super fast by country standards: it’s not as if anyone had a water pump in his back pocket.

We were up at summer camp for nine days: my beloved was the camp doctor; my role was to look out at the lake, daydream and make a serious dent in the pile of books I’d brought along.

We made do with a cold water supply jerry-rigged with a garden hose from a nearby reservoir to the house, which was the only place affected. Mainly, we used the water to refill the toilet tank; to shower, we walked down the hill a few hundred yards to a small cinder block building with more than enough hot water.

I groused a bit: I’m accustomed to water coming out of the faucet when the tap is turned on, after all, and to showering without having to leave the building. But I groused only a little because this was the country and, truth be told, I hardly cared: we ate in the dining hall with everyone else, so I didn’t have to worry about cooking or washing dishes.

The air was fresh and pure, the starry skies a nightly miracle. Apart from the joyful noise of children at play, the only sounds we heard were of birds; the mournful, eerie call of the loon at dusk was my favourite.

Replacing the pump, it turned out, did not restore the water supply. Hmm. Then before anyone could come up with a Plan B, a fierce storm blew in Monday evening when we were all in the dining hall: it knocked over a tree which, in turn, took down a power line supplying the camp.

So now the house had no electricity. But the sky cleared almost immediately – and so we read, as we usually did, in the screened-in porch, our backs to the lake to catch the last of the light against the pages of our books. In the last days of June, that took us to just after 9. We brushed our teeth, using water in the kettle we’d boiled earlier in the day, and went to bed. I fell asleep almost instantly.

Had I known the power would go out, I would have boiled more water, of course, and saved it in bowls on the counter. But isn’t that always the way? We never know when the power will go out.

The electricity was restored the following afternoon and I was thrilled at the possibility of a hot cup of tea or the CBC community network or a hot shower, even if having it meant walking down the hill. I liked being able to read until I, and not the heavens, decided it was time to stop. Who cared about the water now?

A Jewish tale about a poor man and a rabbi comes to mind. “Rabbi,” the poor man cried: “It is so crowded in the house, with my wife and six children and me all in the same room: there is hardly space to breathe!

“What should I do?”

“I know you keep a goat behind your house,” the rabbi replied. “Put the goat inside with you.”

The man was surprised, but he dared not ignore the rabbi’s advice. Within a week, the goat had nibbled away at most of the shabby furniture and relieved itself all over the place. There was no spot for the man even to sit. He went to the rabbi again -desperate by now.

“Take the goat out of the house,” the rabbi instructed him. A week later the two encountered each other in the street. “Rabbi,” the man said. “Things are so much better. Now that the goat is out, the house feels more spacious than a palace!”

When we left for home on Sunday, we were a bit sad, the way we always are to bid farewell to camp -a place where we feel so happy and at peace. There was still no water.

Things happen in the city, too, as I learned when I arrived back in town to the news that my MasterCard had been compromised; someone in Germany had used it to play online poker – although I didn’t know this yet when I ran in to the Provigo on Monkland Ave. to grab some groceries and the cashier informed me, with more relish than I thought was called for, that the card had been declined.

The truth is, of course, that we hardly ever truly appreciate what we have when we have it. And we rarely acknowledge, to ourselves or to anyone else, that things could almost certainly be worse than they are.

sschwartz@thegazette.canwest.com

Often, we are not honest about what parts of life we don’t feel gratitude. We know we’re meant to be thankful and we don’t want to admit that we’re not. It all feels a little naughty.

So spend some time taking a little look inside your life over a range of areas.

Make a little list. Think about it and come up with one chief thing you are not thankful for (if there is one), and one chief thing you ARE thankful for (if you can).

Be Well.

Some people might think, “Well that is a crazy thing to do! You LIVE there – why would you need to film it?”

Honestly, I will probably not watch this clip of video in the next couple of years! However, if I decide to move or little Somerville, NJ gets SOOOO developed that is become an entirely different place, I have recorded a small piece of history. When I just grab the camera and film stuff, I frequently will start off with the phrase, “And here is some ‘Everyday Art’ that I will be capturing.”

Let’s fast forward some 20 years from now… I can look not only look back and say, “Wow! Remember the old neighborhood? – I can watch it!

Be Well.