Tag Archives: gratitude

Choose our thoughts

CHOOSE our thoughts. Decide what we think about. Proactively select them, for our experience of life reflects what we think about.

Yet, how often do we choose? Or even know that we can?

So often we lose ourselves in our thoughts. Immersed so deeply we didn’t even realized that they are thoughts – They’re not us.

We’re not even having thoughts at that point; the thoughts are having us.

Be aware of our thoughts. Don’t fight them. Don’t fear them. Or judge them. Just see them, watch them, and stay aware of them.

Eventually, maybe we can even choose them. Think about the thoughts we want to fill our mind with for a life of meaning and growth. Choose what we think about: our  loved ones, what we’re put on this Earth to do, and anything that can help us grow.

Choose the light.

Let go of thoughts that don’t serve us. Let them go not just to forgive someone or some past, but also for our own sake:

Let go of resentful thoughts and narratives for our own sake.

Here, letting go is an act of kindness to ourselves. We deserve that and we can give it to ourselves.

We can love ourselves by letting go of resentment toward someone else.

The better we learn at choosing, and the better thoughts we choose, the better our life experiences become.

We can love ourselves.

All is borrowed

Everything is transitory. Our life, youth, recognition, money & relationships.
Nothing is owned by or owed to anyone. Everything & everyone is only loaned to us & need to be returned. Always.

All we have, the only thing we ever have, is to do the best with the time we’re given.

I treasure all the time I’ve known my loved ones, and I am grateful for them being in my life: past, present, and future. I now see that no time is guaranteed. To all my loved ones:  Just know that you’re very special in my life and I adore you so much. All of you.

Mother and Father

I now think of “mother” as a state of being, not limited by a formal or biological connection. I have a mother. And I also have a Mother, the sum of my mother, aunts, grandmothers, and more. A powerful force in the universe, a loving and nurturing maternal energy.

Some of those who grew up not feeling fully accepted and loved might have been surrounded by love, actually. Along with the mother, other loved ones nurtured, protected, accepted, and loved them as a collective maternal presence. More powerful and loving together than any individual mother can be.

If we didn’t realize that, we might have underappreciated a great fortune of our lives. Some of us might have even spent years feeling lacking, unworthy, incomplete, and rejected while being completely enveloped by love.

I now think of “father” similarly. A protective, loving force with a tender side. Tough and maybe almost impossible to be completely fulfilled by one person all the time. So, let us think about, and feel, the love from our father, uncles, grandfathers, other family and even friends, and consider the possibility that the fatherly, paternal protective force we needed might have always been there, and will always be.

And may be, just may be, WE can nurture, accept, and love ourselves with that warm material glow. We can also provide, protect and love ourselves with that tough and tender paternal energy. In that sense, we become a part of the love that completes ourselves, we literally become the love that starts our healing.

Thank you for reading. 🙂

Redirect your thoughts this way to feel better instantly …

Although external circumstances and people can seem to cause our unhappiness, the truth is that it’s entirely our own thoughts that make us so.

As mentioned in an earlier post,

Nothing and no one can think the thoughts in our heads. We are the only person in the universe who can think our own thoughts.

This is liberating. If our own thoughts create unhappiness, then our own thoughts likewise can create happiness.

The thought that something is lacking in our lives makes us unhappy: the lack of money, recognition, status, relationships, and a thousand other things that other people seem to have more of.

The more we ruminate on what we lack, the unhappier we get.

And when we finally get what we want, happiness often seems fleeting. A big promotion that we’ve worked on for years? How long does it take before we feel lacking unless we get the next? A big salary bump? How long do we feel underpaid again? For how long does that shiny new car make us happy?

A general sense of unease and dissatisfaction pervades much of our lives. Always seeking, plotting, getting, all for a brief moment of respite.

Is real happiness fleeting? If what we thought would make us happy is temporary and illusory, then can it true that what we thought we lacked also wasn’t the true source of our unhappy condition?

If that’s true, then perhaps …

The more we think about what we have, the happier we become.

Instead of perpetually seeking, what if we redirected our thoughts to what we can be giving? Here’s one of the best advice / life philosophy I’ve ever heard:

The meaning of life is to discover our gift and give it to the world.

– Mr. Dave Bechtel

What if we focused our thoughts on finding our unique talents and using them in service of others? Instead of worrying about what’s missing, what if we think about what we have in our lives, and create ideas about how to share them with others? How about focusing on how fortunate we are?

What is YOUR gift and how can you share it with the world?

Happy New Year! May you continue to be blessed and find ways to share your blessing. May all the good you share with the world come back tenfold to make your life even better.

Thanksgiving

“The quality of our thoughts equals the quality of our lives.”

– Papa

I used to check the news and emails every morning when I open my eyes. Guess what? Stress immediately filled my mind. Cortisol pumped into the bloodstream. And that’s before getting out of bed!

What thoughts fill your mind as you wake up each morning?

Instead of filling our thoughts with the news, what if we woke up every morning filling our minds and hearts with gratitude?

We can use our calendars to remind ourselves every day. At 7 am, get a reminder to thank the Universe.

Thank the warm bed that we sleep in. How nice does it feel during these winter days? Roof over my head? Awesome. A good night’s rest? How about good health? Loving family and friends?

Too mundane? Try imagining our lives without them. Do they feel more special now?

“Desire the things that we already have.”

– Stoics

And what about YOU? You have a good heart? Care about others? Diligent at work and life? Then Go You! Thank yourself for being a good person. Thank yourself for trying something new. Thank yourself for being you.

If the quality of our thoughts equals the quality of our lives, and we want to be happier and feel better, then let’s try changing what goes on inside our minds and hearts for the better.

Happy Thanksgiving! May all your days be filled with gratitude.