-
Breaking Out of Fear
Are you judging, complaining, feeling like there is not enough time and not enough money? Choosing Love or Choosing Fear Today I was at a strength-based personal transformation training facilitated by Paula Feathers, a Pawnee/Cherokee woman who has dedicated her life to prevention work in New Mexico. She asked two powerful question that gave…
-
The Pleasure Tracker
I was wondering. What would my day be like if I had a pleasure tracker, a checkbox waiting to be filled with all sorts of delicious choices? Your Homework Assignment: Find Pleasure Each Day This week we explore pleasure. It is not the same as gratitude but it is not a stretch to…
-
Focus on These Three Things
I looked out and saw life in my back yard, lily pads growing over themselves, lilies in full bloom. What do I see when I look inside myself? Do You Give The Gift of Gratitude To Everyone But Yourself? What do you notice? What do you notice in others? What do you notice in…
-
Float with the Flow
Flowers against my skin, dew transferred and absorbed, flowing with nature, united. Nature and My Nature I awoke before dawn. The magnificent colors of sunrise precede the actual emergence of the sun by quite a bit here. The sun languidly comes up when it is ready. Before the sun joined us I noticed…
-
Three Slow Exhales with the Ocean
Each breath was slower than the one before until finally I sank into my true relaxed state. My jaw relaxed, my mind cleared, I felt fully immersed in the moment. What a gift. Three Long and Slow Exhales Sink deep into relaxation starting with three breaths. Exhaling long and slow is the key…
-
Aaaaaah … Sinking into the Love
And just like that I was in paradise. With my gratitude overwhelming me I realized that finding gratitude in grief, loss, frustration, overwhelm and boredom help me to fully and humbly welcome the gift of my current surroundings. Thank You, I Accept This Gift This week I arrived in paradise. The lush jungle…
-
Saying Goodbye with Gratitude
Oh man, the crying headache. It aches like nothing else. Pounding, pulsing, it has it’s own heart beat. Another Fucking Tragedy Here we are again. We are collectively mourning. Again. Our tears pour down our faces and we ask more of ourselves than we were meant to ask. Sometimes I wonder how I can go on.…
-
Which Gratitude Is Better?
Is it better to express gratitude to a person you are grateful for or to write down your gratitude experience without directing it to anyone? He Put Me on the Spot I was talking to someone last week, a fellow entrepreneur, about gratitude. I told him about my gratitude practice and the work that…
-
Fear
In the Bathroom, On a Ballot, In My Head, Everywhere Earlier I saw yet another story about fear of transgender people in bathrooms and it got me thinking about fear. This fear is so illogical and not based in reality at all. But is fear ever about reality? Fear as a way to control and…
-
How to Inspire: From “Be Happy” to “I Am Grateful for ________”
Discovering Happiness During My Mid-College Crisis Something happened to me right around the time I turned 20. I called it my mid-college crisis and even though it was during the stone ages of the internet (back in 1995) I made a website about it. I questioned everything. Who am I? What am I doing with my…
-
100 Thank Yous from Judaism to Einstein
If You Said Thank You 100 Times It is Passover and as my friends shared photos of their Seder it reminded me of a Jewish teaching I heard. It calls for all Jewish people to recite 100 blessings every day. The story behind the tradition is: During the reign of Kind David, there was…
-
Writing Love Letters: Dear Morning …
A Month of Love Letters Today I received a lovely message with an invitation to write a month of love letters. But these aren’t your average love letters. These are love letters to ourselves, our bodies, our feelings and the world around us. In short they are a lovely gratitude practice. Today is April…
-
A Practice to Bring You Closer Together
Is There Someone You’d Like to Connect With? You know I’m always talking about how important noticing is as a first step to being grateful. That can be true for nature, our work or home, and also for the people we care about. Is there someone you would like to have a deeper connection…
-
Love is …
The Love Hangover It is the day after Valentine’s Day. What do we do the day after we focus on love? What do we focus on now besides half-priced chocolate? Love, of course, just like we do every single day of our lives. Just like there are myriad things to be grateful for, there…
-
Shout It From the Sidewalk
When 1 gratitude becomes 1000gratitudes Obviously all of you are committed to gratitude. You know the importance of practicing gratitude. You are aware of all the good you are surrounded by and all the good you are. But not all of you have a written gratitude practice. Some of you practice gratitude through your…
-
Hello. Thank You. You Are Beautiful.
A Way of Being For a while now I have been intrigued by this concept of Ways of Being. It is the idea of having a consciousness that is aligned with an intention but not being caught up in the actions or strategies that might get you there. For instance you could be of…
-
Seeing the World with Curious Eyes
A Deep Open-Minded Noticing Right now I am sitting in a hospital room with my girlfriend. She has an undiagnosed terribly painful condition which is a cycle of nausea and extreme pain that comes in waves of abdominal spasms. She yells out in pain her face pale and red, her eyes pleading for…
-
Racism and Gratitude
Thank You, Martin Luther King Today as we appreciate Martin Luther King Jr. let's take an opportunity to acknowledge our privilege. Our gratitude practice is one way we can look at the privilege we have with humility and appreciation. Instead of defending ourselves saying we don't have privilege and instead of being so…
-
How To Express Gratitude for Loved Ones
What a Beautiful Way to Connect Writing gratitude is one thing but expressing it is quite another. Take your gratitude practice to another level by using it to connect with those who matter most. This doesn’t mean a simple, “thank you” when your loved one does something for you. This is about expressing detailed…
-
Desperately Seeking Abundance
When All Else Fails … Love Yourself I want a vast ocean of energy. I want a warm bath that holds me like a loving mom. I want to be able to give more. I want to be able to help more without checking my balance of energy. I want to love like I…