Daily Gratitude

The First Law of Success

09 July 2009 04:00:00 MST

"The first law of success is service. We get what we give, and for this reason we should consider it a great privilege to give." - - Charles Haanel

In the mountain area where we live there are a multitude of beautiful lakes. Little gems nestled in the trees, with crystal clear water from springs and bubbling brooks running into the lake, and out.

There's a lesson for us in these lakes, one that it's easy to forget when the news is so depressing. The lesson is this - the lakes are healthy because they have both an inflow, and an outflow. If you don't have both, the lake becomes polluted and dead, like the Great Salt Lake, or the Dead Sea.

How To Have Happiness

25 June 2009 04:00:00 MST

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." - - Albert Schweitzer

I was thinking about happiness today after I heard that Michael Jackson had passed away. What came to my mind was how many of us are waiting for some external circumstance to change so we can be happy.

"When I get enough money, when I get the right job, when I get the right person, when my kids treat me right....." Guess what? Michael Jackson had tons of money, fame, extraordinary talent and tens of thousands of adoring fans. Was he happy?

Watch Where You're Going!

05 May 2009 04:00:00 MST

"Don't look at the obstacles, keep your eyes on where you wanna go because the raft's gonna go where you're looking!" - - from white water rafting school

Back in 1995 I did something I'd always wanted to do and went for a week of training to be a white water rafting guide. We were in beautiful Taos, NM, training on the Chama and Rio Grande rivers, and it was even better than I expected. Rowing the big rafts under the sharp eyes of the instructors and taking on bigger and bigger rapids as the week progressed. Whew, what a rush!

What I learned turned out to be very useful off the river, too. See, when you're coming up on a rapid the river drops off and you can't see until you get close. You've gotta stand up to see as much as you can and make split second decisions about how you want to position the raft. You gotta determine two things - where you wanna go, and where you don't wanna go!

When Being Right is Wrong

03 April 2009 04:00:00 MST

"I had all these papers spread out in piles and I couldn't figure out how to figure out who was right. But then I had a revelation. What if everyone was right, about something?" - - Ken Wilber.

How easy is it to be grateful for the difficult people in your life? Maybe it's your neighbor, or your brother-in-law, or a coworker, or your boss. Maybe it's a bored and underpaid clerk at the Drivers License office. It doesn't matter, we all get difficult people to deal with. It's part of life, darn it.

Think of it as your gratitude test. Heck, it's easy to be grateful for good people, friendly people, or helpful people. As Jesus once said, "Even the drunkards and sinners can do that." Can you pass the test with people that are a pain in the butt? Let me give some ideas that might help. It's gonna require an attitude shift, though.

Prosperity Secrets 101

12 Mar 2009 04:00:00 MST

"Prosperity is generated by mental and physical forces. To generate prosperity in your own life you must open your mind to it." - - Catherine Ponder.

The question that seems to be on everyone's mind right now is "How can I confidently live prosperously when all the news is bad?" People will say it can't be done, but as you know, "people" are usually wrong. The common wisdom is often not wisdom at all. Unless you believe it, of course. Then it becomes true for you! So let's look at some basic prosperity principles of uncommon wisdom instead!

What Would You Have Seen?

26 Feb 2009 14:00:00 MST

"The whole world is simply my story, projected back to me on the screen of my own perception. All of it." - - - Byron Katie

Have you ever had the experience of finding that someone you'd shared an experience with, like your spouse perhaps, had a different memory of what happened? Yeah, me too! We laugh about it but there's something going on that's actually very important and can have a big effect on our lives.The best way to illustrate this is with a story.

Not just any story, a famous story that many of you may have heard, but I bet you missed the real message....

How To Be Self Confident

10 Feb 2009 14:00:00 MST

"When you feel as though you are doing what you were born to do, there is simply no alternative but to succeed. Failure becomes nothing more than feedback on the road to your destiny. " - - - Daniel Levis

A lot of people want to know how to become self confident. They think its a new skill to learn. But it's not. You were BORN self confident! How many times did you fall down learning to walk? Did you ever see a baby sitting there blubbering "Waaa, I'll never learn to walk. I can't do it. I'm such a klutz!"

No! Babies have absolute confidence that they can walk and they'll fall down as often as they have to without ever doubting they can do it. You know why? They were BORN to walk! ....

Be Grateful for Whaat?

29 Jan 2009 14:00:00 MST

"When you experience a failure it is because you have not asked for enough. Keep on and a better thing will certainly come to you." - - - Wallace Wattles

One of the teachings in the Gratitude book is that we should be grateful for everything. That's a tall order for someone new to the process, 'cause we all have some things that we feel are so negative that we just can't be grateful for them.

Today I want to talk about failures. You know, when you want something and you don't get it? Repeat after me - "Thank you!"

How To Attract More

11 Dec 2008 14:00:00 MST

"If we seem to experience difficulties, it's because we are out of the flow. And one of the most effective ways to get back in the flow is through giving." - - - Eric Butterworth. This seems to be a good time to point out the power in the 5th principle of gratitude. After all, the holiday season seems to be mostly focused on giving. But there's a danger here. When we give out of an obligation, we eliminate the benefits. When we're resistent to giving because of a belief in scarcity, we're asking the Universe for more scarcity. And these can be big issues this time of year.

Gratitude and Economic Chaos

19 Nov 2008 14:00:00 MST

I've always been the opposite of a paranoid. I operate as if everything is part of a plot to enhance my well being." -- Stan Dale. Considering the world events of the moment and the relentless flood of bad news, this would be a good time to review the principles of the Law of Gratitude. Besides, it was four years ago at this time when the book was first released! Let's start with the second principle - nonresistance. Resistance is arguing that the world should be different than it is, and we quoted Byron Katie as saying "All the stress we feel is caused by arguing with what is."

B-25's, Heart Attacks, and Gratitude

14 Oct 2008 14:00:00 MST

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." - -Meister Eckhardt. Today we have a special guest article from a man whose wisdom I have come to greatly admire. Richard Russell is 84 and still writing a daily commentary on the stock market, interspersed with insightful thoughts about what he has learned from life. I thought that his comments on adversity and appreciation were well worth reading.

Shooting Yourself in the Foot

25 Sep 2008 14:00:00 MST

"What you focus on is what grows" - - Ralph Waldo Emerson. Have you ever heard the old saying, "Big gates swing on little hinges?" What it means, of course, is that sometimes little things are what determine the outcome of big things. Obviously we want to get the big things AND the little things all lined up together so we create what we want in life. Unfortunately there's one little idea that it's easy for you to get wrong - with gratitude, and with affirmations, and with visualizations. Then you wonder why "none of this stuff works!" I made this mistake for years.

The Prison Experiment

03 Sep 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation." - - Roberto Assagioli. In the Gratitude ebook one of the important points is the practice of forgiveness. Here's a simple key that will help you with it, and with life. Take complete responsibility for everything in your life!

Lessons From an 8-year-old

12 Aug 2008 14:00:00 MST

"We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. But it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents." - - Eric Hoffer. What's the single most important thing in creatinga successful life? Knowing what you want! The second most important thing?

Create or Disintegrate

16 Jul 2008 14:00:00 MST

"I'm a big believer in lifelong learning. You don't go to school just once and graduate; you are in school all of your life." - - Harvey Mackay. Since we're talking about learning and growing this issue, it reminds me of something I learned from Bob Proctor, and he was most emphatic about it. He said, "The law of life is - create or disintegrate!"

I Love the Aussies!

02 Jul 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once." - - Australian saying. Back in my corporate marketing days I had the pleasure of several trips to Australia. I loved doing business there because the Aussies are no b.s. straight shooters, and that makes business fun. I also loved socializing with them, but I found I had better be rested up if I was going out! My favorite thing about the people I met, though, was ...

One Simple Shift

19 Jun 2008 14:00:00 MST

"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us." - - Albert Schweitzer. Did you ever wonder what gets people started on major change? Joe Vitale came up with a really valuable answer to that question this week. Joe was asked ....

It's Simple and Not a Secret

31 May 2008 14:00:00 MST

"You'll start having more of what you love when you start loving what you have." - - James Arthur Ray. Do you ever get confused by all the ideas, formulas, systems and study programs that are out there, promising you the secrets to the life of your dreams? Yeah, me too. What I want is something simple and easy to remember that I can apply to just about every situation in my life. Something that will make me feel better AND create positive results. OK, here's the best one I've found . . . .

Gratitude and Grief

14 May 2008 14:00:00 MST

"His dog up and died, he up and died, After 20 years he still grieved." - - Jerry Jeff Walker, "Mr Bojangles." What I've been going through today, I don't wish on anybody. We've had to make the decision to euthanize our beloved Gabrielle, a part Lab, part Border Collie that's been with us for 11 years, since she was a puppy. Arthritis and other problems had crippled her, and she was in constant pain. Does the fact that it's the right decision make it any easier? Not at all, and that's led me to think about ...

Managing Life's Upsets

29 Apr 2008 14:00:00 MST

"No matter where the problem is, how acute it may be, or how difficult the person may be, there is in the final analysis no one to change but yourself.." - - Joseph Murphy. For a big part of my life I struggled with an assortment of problems that left me unhappy and dissatisfied. My job was more and more of a pain, I had a bad relationship with my son, and I went through 2 divorces. I really didn't think the world was such a happy place, and I ...

What Didn't Happen

16 Apr 2008 14:00:00 MST

"I have been through some terrible things in my life, most of which never actually happened." - - Mark Twain. Isn't it amazing how our mind can create a disaster movie about almost any circumstance in our life? We'll never find true love, we're gonna be bankrupt, I'm losing my job, we'll be living out of a shopping cart, the pain in my side is probably cancer, etc, etc. It can be an endless parade of fear, if we let it. Well, here's an idea to put these disaster fears to good use!

Other People's Opinions

04 Apr 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Favor and disgrace are equally problematic. Favor lifts you up; disgrace knocks you down. Either one depends on the opinions of others, and causes you to depart from your center." - - Tao te Ching. I'm always amazed at how much real wisdom was known and written a long time ago. We get so involved in the newest technology and scientific discoveries that we tend to think that our generation must be really smart compared to those poor ignorant souls of the past. Well, being smart and being wise are two very different things! There's a reason why many ancient teachings are called "wisdom traditions" and not "smart traditions." In my experience, smart can get you into a lot of trouble, wisdom can keep you out.

The Razor's Edge

19 Mar 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Always do your best. What you plant now, you harvest later." - - Og Mandino. It's starting to get really beautiful here in the mountains of eastern Arizona, and today we have bright sunshine and shirt sleeve temperatures. It's a big improvement over the freezing rain and snow we had Sunday. There's nothing like winter to make you grateful for spring, is there? As I was thinking about how grateful I was for the sunshine, I got to thinking about some of the things we sometimes have trouble being grateful for. One of those things is .....

Are You Tied in a Knot?

05 Mar 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Blame is a bind - pure and simple, it ties you up. As long as you blame, you effectively rob yourself of your own empowerment." - - Eldon Taylor. Of the five principles that I cover in "The Astonishing Power of Gratitude" book, the one that I get the most email about is forgiveness. Many people seem to have at least one person or situation that they can't forgive. Sometimes it's even themselves!

What Are You?

19 Feb 2008 14:00:00 MST

"We are stardust, we are golden, We are billion year old carbon" - - Joni Mitchell. Even as little as I watch the news, it's pretty obvious to me that there are many reasons for people to want to separate, pick sides and fight. I'd like to suggest a different way to look at ourselves and others that might lead to more productive choices. Let's look at where we came from. To do that we have to go back 13 billion years or so to the Big Bang, in which a giant explosion of energy into nothingness (as far as we know) created the Universe. So how did we get here from that? It's an astonishing process, which leaves me in awe and amazement the more I think about it. Here's the process....

You Don't Have To Participate!

07 Feb 2008 14:00:00 MST

"Never speak of the times as being hard or of business conditions as being doubtful. When others are having hard times and poor business you will find your greatest opportunities." - - Wallace Wattles Here in the USA we're going through an unusually large amount of gloom and doom talk. The fear of recession is in the air, and the political candidates are making the most of it. So let me give you the most important information there is about recessions. You don't have to participate!

How Would You Answer These Questions?

18 Jan 2008 14:00:00 MST

"The Egyptians believed that when you died and arrived at the gate of Heaven you would be asked two questions. How you answered these questions determined whether you would get in." - - Morgan Freeman, in "The Bucket List." My wife and I don't go to a lot of movies, but the combination of Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson was too good to miss. When we got out we were talking about how much we had enjoyed it, and Sandy said, "It must have been good, because I laughed and I cried." That's a pretty good rating! It was also thought-provoking, which is another good rating.