A Culture Of Thankfulness  There are probably a million and one different ways to make life work better for us. There are themes, quick fixes, long fixes, self-taught, expensive and some are free fixes.  Some work and some don’t. Some might work for everyone, some for no one and every almost every degree in between.   Considering all of that information, I want to take some time to tell you about one that I’ve found that makes me a better person and makes my life a better life to live.  I call it creating a“Culture Of Thankfulness.”  Whenever someone mentions creating a “Culture of (Fill in the blank)” then there are bound to be questions that come to mind. Among them… —What is it? —How do I do it? —What do I get out of it? —Is this shareable? There are obviously more questions than just these but because of the scope I’m going to stop with these. Also, how to calm down and refocus on the life around us is intensely individual. So, I’ll be using the word ‘I’ much more than “we” or ‘you” so I can share my thoughts and my experiences and then leave it up to you to determine if it’s something that would fit inside of your life.  What Is It? What was I talking about when I decided to develop this Culture of Thankfulness around me? I guess first was simply a way to be happier in the midst of all of life’s challenges. In order to do that,  I kept hearing the words of my dad.  “Gregg, you can’t just be grateful for the things you want to be grateful for, you’ve got to find gratitude in everything!” So, if I wanted to find a way to be thankful for all of the things in my life, I needed to pay special attention to those things that I never realized I could find thankfulness or gratitude in, in the first place.  [NOTE: Thankful and Grateful are the same to me.  I’m sure there is a difference but to me, they’re interchangeable.] How Do I Do It? I made the conscious decision to employ this “Culture of Thankfulness” in every area of my life as opposed to gradually phasing it in. To be fair though, since doing  this for some time now, I’ve realized how thankfulness has found its way into different areas of my life and times of my life that I never would have dreamt it could have. As a result, I do my best to surround myself with thankfulnessfrom the time I wake up in the morning until I fall asleep at night.  When I wake up I lay there and start saying thank you. Sometimes it’s out loud, sometimes it’s just to myself. I keep saying my thank you’s, sometimes about specific things, sometimes to specific people but most of the time…I just start saying thank you and let it roll wherever it wants to on it’s own. (I also have to admit that sometimes I forget as soon as I wake up and I get up and move on […]

Everyone on the planet has problems and challenges of one sort or another. Most of the time it’s not the “weight” of the problem that causes you to break down, it’s the amount of time we carry that weight around with us. An hour, a day, a week, a year or in some instances it’s 24/7/365 for the rest of our lives! As an illustration, most of us could probably hold a 16 ounce can out in front of us for a little while. But imagine how painful that would be the longer and longer and longer and longer we carry that can out in front of us. At some point, our body will just give out. Maybe we’d put so much focus and energy into holding onto that can that other parts of our lives would suffer and we’d eventually end up injuring ourselves physically, mentally or spiritually. The bottom line is that the longer we hold onto it, the worse we will end up feeling. When it comes to us holding onto all of those negative fragments, sometimes we don’t even realize what we’re doing because its been so long. Sometimes though, we do realize it. It’s that moment when we do realize we’re angry or frustrated or carrying a grudge that we need to ask ourself an incredibly important question…“How much time am I willing to take away from my life in order to feel this way!?!”  This is step one! Step two? Listen! Listen as life will almost always answer “No More!” Our mind and body will almost always show us the way to be better, to be happier. The tricky part is that we need to first listen, then agree and then act on it.  Find the time to Listen To Your Life, because whether we’re listening to it or not, it will tell you what you need.  Find the time to Listen To Your Life. You deserve it! Peace       …..Gregg

Most of us probably use throwaway phrases everyday, almost without even knowing it. Almost without caring.  Before we go any farther, I thought we’d better define our terms. In other words, what is a “Throwaway Phrase?” {Judging from the vast amount of money in the “Research and Development” budget… I Googled it.}  Here is their explanation… “If you say that someone makes a throwaway remark or gesture, you mean that they make it in a casual way, although it may be important, or have some serious or humorous effect. … a throwaway remark may later be regretted.” Sometimes a throwaway phrase happens in business such as when the “office know it all” gives us some useless advise and we respond with a quick wave of the hand and an “Uh huh…” You don’t really mean it that way, but it’s just the thing to say.  Sometimes a throwaway phrase can happen with people you hardly know. Maybe you bump into someone inadvertently and toss out a quick “Uh, sorry.” You don’t really mean it that way, but it’s just the thing to say.  But sadly, sometimes throwaway phrases happen closer to home with those we love. These are the throwaway phrases we need to make sure we we stop and never use again. How often have we thrown out a quick “Love ya” on the way out the door or we nod our head and throw out an occasional “Uh huh” as someone we care about is telling us about their day? You don’t really mean them that way, but it’s just the thing to say.  You’ll note that the definition also brought up gestures. Just as with words, we toss these throwaway gestures out the same way.  When your other half or partner comes home after a long day, you sit there watching TV or playing video games, or reading and throw out a “hi” without even looking up? Maybe we have a single comment or whole conversation with our back turned to someone when we know if the tables were turned, we’d want to be facing each other . You don’t really mean them that way, but you’re just to busy, unaware, uncaring (Just insert whatever excuse seemsmto make you feel the best) to do anything differently.  Now these are only a few of the things that might happen all the time. Things gotten used to doing and we hardly pay attention to that, either force others to hope we care more than we’re showing or force them to imagine our words, actions and feelings actually mean.  So how can we change?  First, realize when we’re doing these things to others. Be aware you might be sending the wrong message and then realize when it when happens back to you out of the mouths of others.  Second, do your best for just one day (to start) pay special attention to everything you’re saying and doing. Everything. Can you go one complete day being completely aware of what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, […]