Wednesday, January 7, 2015

30 Day Gratitude Challenge ... Day 7 ...

Take A Deep Breath

How 10 seconds can change your life ...

It's now day 7 and you should be feeling great!!  You are now writing something you are thankful for every day, focusing on only positive things and doing something kind every day.   Now it's time to kick it up a notch and write down 3 things that you are thankful for every day.  It doesn't matter if you just write them on a piece of paper, use a journal, a thankful jar or just email a list to yourself every day.  Just taking the time to think about it and write it down is all that is necessary.  

I know how hard that it is sometimes to come up with something to be thankful for.  Before my mother passed away she went into the hospital and was put into a coma so they could hopefully make her better.  Not only did it not work, but we were never able to talk to her again.  I believe that was probably the worst time of my entire life.  Watching someone you love die is simply heartbreaking.  As difficult as that time was, I still remember thinking about how lucky I was to have had my mom for so long.  I saw so many of my friends and family members lose their parents in their 20's and 30's and here I was about to turn 50 years old. I had 50 years with her and that is an incredible gift.  As hard as this time was, I was so grateful I had so much time with her.  Even in our worst times in life, we can try to find something to be grateful for.  Just after my mother died hurricane sandy hit our town and severely damaged our home.  I remember during that time that all I could think about is how lucky we were our home was not destroyed.  Yes our entire house suffered severe damage and we lost so much, but it was still standing and could be repaired.  People died during that storm and many homes washed away or burned down.  I was thankful it was not worse and that we were all safe.  I cried for what we lost, but I was thankful for what we still had.  

This challenge is about focusing on the good things in our life.  It's not about having the perfect life, it's about appreciating what we have and making the best of all of it.  It's about how we look at things that happen in our life and how we react to them.  It's about how we treat others, regardless of how they treat us.  We can always choose to be bitter and angry, but that only makes us and everyone around us unhappy.  That would be the real tragedy.  Picking ourselves up and moving forward takes strength, but it also takes believing in ourselves.  Being bitter and angry only means we gave up.  The hardest times in my life also seem to be when I find the most inner strength.  

This weeks exercise is about your reaction to everyday things that happen and to how we react to the people around us.  

Are you patient?
Are you considerate?
Do you think of other people's feelings?

Anytime anything happens during your day that can stress you out, follow the 10 second rule.  Take a deep breath and count to ten before you speak.  You will be amazed how that 10 seconds can change your life.  

Thank you for reading and our next post will be in a few days ...  be sure to follow the steps below every day ...

Write 3 things that you are thankful for every day ...
Focus on only positive things ..
Do something kind every day ...
Follow the 10 second rule ...

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