What's Good 3.4.14

Happy Tuesday!!! Gratitude Practice is here!!! How will you take what you are grateful for through the rest of your day? This isn't just about writing it down and sending it back… put it out there! Let the world feel your appreciation! Let's make a difference.

This only takes a few moments to do but gives to you for much, much longer. So put down whatever you are doing and take a couple of minutes for yourself. Every Tuesday morning I am going to ask you to write down 5 things that you are grateful for and email them to me (keep for yourself as well). What are you feeling gratitude around? Here are mine for this week:

My Jackson Purring.
Coconut Oil.
My Hair.
My Work.
Writing.

There are no right or wrong answers. It is about what you are grateful for. It is proven that doing this once a week makes you happier, healthier, exercise more and less sensitive to perceived slights. You will sweat the small stuff less and focus on what really matters.

So… what are you waiting for???

I remember being looked at like I had three heads when I told my friends that I was going to coach rowing after graduating from college; they were concerned about my future. More than a few of them would become lawyers, doctors and analysts while I struggled to make ends meet with a salary of $5300 the first year as a coach. I pushed on making $5700 the next year then making $16000 the next year and, ever year, increasing what I made in some way or another, doing what I loved. I coached rowing for over a decade along with supplemental gigs (cutting down trees, FedEx Driver, Creative Resource Manager at an ad agency, etc) and never once worried that I wasn’t heading in the direction I was supposed to go… nor did I concern myself with “making it big” one day. If I am meant to be “big” one day then the day to day is where I will grow that possibility until it is full grown and my “bigness” is a reality.

I have had the pleasure of loving many and learning so much from each relationship, whether I was connected intimately or not. I have been engaged a few times and married once. I have had whirlwind romances that span continents and short-lived flings that were really just about sticking and moving. They have all been great in their own way. During all of the different relationships I was in, I worked to bring the one I was with to the present moment instead of dreaming of some unknown and uncertain future. It is hard to have a wonderful relationship rooted in the moment when everyone is looking a year or 5 ahead. Even when engaged my focus was on my present moments, which for most isn’t the way most folks lives are lived. So often people are concerned with what will happen and not what is happening. I have seen, more often than not, arguments spiral because the moment, the issue, is overlooked due to the larger picture of strife in one’s life or a mistake made again.

Now I am all for planning ahead and wanting the big “thing” at the “end” whether it be in work or relationships. I know that you cannot ignore feelings that tell you shit isn’t working out. I believe you can see patterns and larger issues or benefits when you take a step back. I also believe to make anything work you have to work. It is a daily thing. You also need to focus on the minutiae to build the massive universe that is your life. When you focus on the details of your world, doing only what (and who) you love, what you want (happiness, wealth, all the good stuff) will come to you because it was always with you. When you focus on loving what is, you have more to love. When you deal with what is in front of you your worries and concerns about the future dissipate. Future issues cannot take root if you never spend time lamenting things that have not happened.

You are exactly where you need to be to get to the next place/person you need to go or get to. You are learning what you need to learn in order to move your soul in the direction it so desires. You are here, now, so be here now. Take it all in. The alternative is never being satisfied, always wanting to be where you are not and believing that somehow life is unfair to you. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life choose to make your life happy each moment you have. Enjoy the journey and trust that you are just fine.

xo
a