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Honoring Our Loved Ones Who Have Passed Away
Gratitude that is specific and from the heart. What a beautiful way to honor them. On Becoming Beautiful The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and…
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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…
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The Art of Being Soft
The bees buzzed around me with all their potential to sting. What will I do? Choosing Softness It can be so easy to convince ourselves that we have to be hard and tough. Even here in our gratitude collective a few weeks ago I was talking about fighting. In times when there is…
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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…
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Freedom to Choose
With a broken elbow she was apologizing for not being more positive. Is there ever a good enough reason to complain? I Hereby Grant You Permission to Complain Complaining is a choice. So is gratitude. I practice gratitude every single evening but I also complain. A lot. I am not all gratitude because…
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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.…
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I’m Just So Tired
Well Not Just Tired Here goes the list of complaints: I am tired, very tired. My gums are throbbing with my bad tooth screaming to get out. I am stressed with a lingering obligation anchoring my every thought. I am hungry and I don’t even want to be writing right now. One thing I…
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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…
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Can Gratitude Eliminate Depression?
Depression is Not a Lack of Gratitude Our topic this week is so important that I decided to make the article public for everyone to read. So in order to give you, the paid members, something special, I have recorded an mp3 so you can listen to the article while you drive, cook,…
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Mary Oliver, Thank You for Giving Words to My Surrender
The Power of Letting Go The concept of our true self has been a theme lately that keeps popping up in different areas of my life. Who are you underneath that mask? Who are you when you are aligned in body, mind, spirit, values, senses, action and in ways that you didn’t even…
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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…
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Check In with Yourself – What is Really Going on in There?
Your Truth As you know I’ve been sick and it is reminding me how important it is to be in touch with our bodies. If we don’t take the time to check in how do we know what we need? Sometimes I operate on auto-pilot eating because of the time of day not because…
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Remember Those Days When You Were Focused on Gratitude?
Restore That Childlike Wonder Imagine a day. A normal Monday like today. Except this day the moments are slow, filled with wonder, curiosity and enjoyment. The colors you see are vivid because they are noticed and taken in completely. The leaves on the trees are calling out to you lighting a fire in your…
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Gratitude in Times of Tragedy
How Can I Be Grateful When There Is Violence All Around? Unimaginable tragedy came into our lives last week. The loss of nine lives, nine people who graciously accepted an outsider into their circle, praying together and most-likely thanking God for their blessings together. Tragedies like these can It makes everyday gratitude seem very unimportant.…
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Desperately Seeking Calm
Take Yourself on a Journey to Now On Friday I found myself racing down a deserted dirt road, a dust cloud billowing behind me, skidding on the bumps and turns as I rushed to get to our campground. The landscape was beautiful, a rare treat to see it so lush and green in the high…
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Disturbing but True
I just couldn’t find gratitude in that situation so I looked away. You have heard my gratitude time and time again for the toads in my backyard. From mating calls, eggs, tadpoles, back to toads their life cycle brings me so much joy. When I bought this house the backyard was a wasteland of weeds…
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Will you be jinxed if you do this?
Release the Jinx Some people say that they don’t want to say how good things are going for them out of fear of jinxing it. This superstition directly stands in the way of practicing gratitude because that’s what this practice is, drawing attention to the good things we are experiencing. Feeling fearful that good things…
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This Is Where I Feel Gratitude
The Poetry of Emotion Gratitude, like all emotions, is like artwork, expansive and uncontainable. Sometimes these feelings in my body last a long time while other times they are fleeting. This poetry of emotion sometimes emerges as a sensation in my body. Gratitude does not always show up the same way but a couple of…
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Do you remember your dreams?
Saying Thank You for my Dreams For the longest time I have been intrigued by my dreams. I like to remember them, talk about them, and explore the meaning behind the images. The problem is that I often do not remember them. Even though I know how I can remember them if I really want…
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Today We Practice Self-Care
Nurturing, Caring, Healing We are on our fifth of six weeks of focusing on our inner selves to be the change we wish to see in the world. This week is all about self-care. Stop running around buying this and that, doing this and that, saying this and that, eating this and that. Just stop for…