365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 12

November 21, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

There Is No Scarcity

"When money is plenty this is a man's world. When money is scarce it is a woman's world. When all else seems to have failed, the woman's instinct comes in. She gets the job. That is a reason why in spite of all that happens, we continue to have a world. ~Ladie's Home Journal, October 1932

When you worry about someone's health - yours or a loved ones there is a sudden clarity about what is important. Living is important. Everyday is a gift. 

But when we worry about money it mocks us. Those worries steal our joy and follow us around like a dark shadow. 

Money ebbs and flows in our life. We must accept that and find gratitude no matter what our situation is at the time. 

Today's challenge: Concentrate on what you have today. Not what you lack. Accept what you can change and do not allow worry to take over what you cannot. 

Today's exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment. 

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 11

November 20, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

Is It Recession or Depression

"No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit." ~Helen Keller

I, personally, am finding it ironic that the Simple Abundance book has discussed recession at this time. The book was first published in the late 90's and as I read the entry for today, I realize that it is still applicable. 

Perhaps the recession has personally affected you and yours. Millions of women are scaling down their expectations of what constitutes the good life, redefining their values, reordering their priorities and accepting the challenge of making a virtue out of necessity. However, it's very easy to surrender to emotional depression when a financial one occurs. 

It's time to put the thoughts of lack behind us. We will have to make a change. Change does not happen overnight. Lasting change happens in small increments at a time. We will slowly learn to become optimists. 

Today's challenge: Smile at everyone you meet. Make eye contact when you smile. Expect something good to happen no matter what happened yesterday. The past can no longer hold you captive. Let it go. 

Today's exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment. 

"The past can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it." 

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 10

November 19, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

Until It Is Carved in Stone

"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had. ~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

In one of my favorite plays of all time, Our Town by Thornton Wilder  a deeply poignant scene takes place in a graveyard. Ghosts comfor teh young heroine, who has recently died from childbirth. Emily, still longing for the life she has just left, wishes to revisit one ordinary, "unimportant" day in her life. When she does, she realizes how much "the living take for granted." 


It eventually becomes too much for her to bear and she begs to leave one last time. ". . . goodbye clocks ticking, goodbye sunflowers, goodbye sleeping and waking. . . "

Today's challenge: This is the season of epiphany. Today seek everyday epiphanies. Give them a voice. Say out loud to someone which "unimportant" experiences you're thankful for and have previously taken for granted. 

Today's exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment. 

"Appreciate the authentic moments of happiness in the everyday." 

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 9

November 18, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

What Is It You Truly Need

"Ini my life's chain of events nothing was accidental. Everything happened according to an inner need." ~Hanna Senesh

Do you have everything you need right now? What about your wants? 


Most of us are hungering for something more in our lives, but do we really think it can be found in a glossy magazine or on the television?

In order to live the life we were intended, it's crucial to distinguish between our wants and our needs. 


Today make peace with the knowledge that you cannot have everything you want! 
It's most important to get everything we need. 

Today's challenge: Be courageous and ask yourself : What is it I truly need to make me happy? The personal answers to this will be very different for each of us. "It is inevitable that when one has a great need of something, one finds it."

Today's exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment. 


"What you need, you attract." 

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 8

November 17, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

The Underrated Duty

"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world." ~Robert Louis Stevenson

"I'll be happy when I get a bigger kitchen." 

"I'll be happy when I get a better paying job."

"I'll be happy when I find the perfect someone." 

I call this "I'll be happy when" syndrome. It tricks us. Yes, these things can make us HAPPIER,  they do not plant the seeds of happiness. 

Happiness is not a possession to be prized. It is a thought, a state of mind. 

No one can force you to be happy each day that you wake up. 

Let's adopt a new state of mind. Let's stop thinking that things outside of our control will bring happiness. 

We must tend our inner garden and take time to uproot the weeds of external expectations.

Happiness is a living emotion. We must be willing to pursue it and make it a priority. It IS  intimidating, but be gentle, start small. Climbing a mountain looks  difficult, but if you take it step by step and day by day, you will find yourself at the top and looking up! 

Today's challenge: Today take time to think of 2 things in your past that you thought would bring you happiness - that you depended on to bring you happiness. Write them down. Did they make you happy for long?

Today's exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment.

365 Days of Gratitude & SImplicity Day 6

November 15, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude. 

Standing Knee-Deep in a River and Dying of Thirst

"The thirst after happiness is never extinguished in the hear of [woman]. ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Kathy Mattea sings of friends who had been taken for granted, sweethearts she had known, and a wonderful world of strangers just waiting to make a connection with us (while we turn our eyes away)

There is so much we are taking for granted. We must try to stop living unconsciously. 

The revelation that we have everything we need in life to make us happy but simply lack the conscious awareness to appreciate it can be as refreshing as lemonade on a hot summer day or as startling as cold water being thrown in our face. . 

Are you going through your days parched and empty, when you are really standing knee-deep in the river of abundance? 

Today's challenge & exercise: Write down 10 things you are grateful for in this moment. 

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 4

November 13, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude.

This isn't a Dress Rehearsal

"When you perform . . .you are out of yourself - larger and more potent, more beautiful. You are for minutes heroic. This is power. This is glory on earth. And it is yours, nightly. ~Agnes De Mille

Like an actress conserving her creative energy and focus for opening night, we hold back. Perhaps you save the pretty china for when company comes; perhaps your rarely dress up when home alone. 

It does take more effort to set an inviting table, but enhances our experience of eating. 

We all feel better when we take those few extra minutes to fix our hair and put on makeup, but what's more we act different. 

Today's challenge & exercise: Find something and give it an extra 5 minutes. Table setting, getting dressed, cooking an new side dish. 

Write down you gratitude for the day.

365 Days of Gratitude & Simplicity Day 3

November 12, 2010

*All content has been taken from SImple Abundance. Some content has been shortened for the purpose of 365 Days of Gratitude.

Simple Abundance: The Inner Journey

simple, adj. 1: without embellishment; 2: clarity of form and thought; 3: fundamental

abundance, n.1: an ample quantity, profusion; 2: wealth; 3: plentifulness 

simple abundance, 1: an inner journey; 2: a spiritual practical course in creative living; 3: a tapestry of contentment

Today's challenge: Today become aware that you already posses all the inner wisdom, strength, and creativity needed to make your dreams come true. This is hard for us to realize because our personal power gets buried so deeply beneath the bills, the dirty laundry, chores, running kids to and fro. Somehow our perceptions are flawed to conclude that happiness and fulfillment come only from external events. We have to learn to be catalysts for our own change. 

Today's exercise: The six principles to use as a guide for us over the next year. Read them, add them to today's journal entry. 

1. Gratitude - doing daily spiritual and mental inventory reminds us that we are rich

2. Simplicity -clear out, pare down, realize we only need the essentials; with simplicity brings..

3. Order - both internally and externally

4. Harmony - provides inner peace 

5. Beauty - With #1-4 we realize the beauty in even the simple things

6. Joy - #1-5 opens the joy in abundance

Be still. 

Write down you gratitude for the day. 

40 Days of Thankfulness

I decided to "Google" 40 Days of Thankfulness. If it's caught on in the Facebook world, I wanted to see what else was out there and surprisingly enough, I found a blogger who ran across the idea and began posting her days of thankfulness in her blog. 


Today marks the 40th Day for me. 


40 Days of Thankfulness Day 40: I'm thankful for perfect timing. God's hand is always in it-a song playing on the radio at the right time with the right words to get you through the day; a check in the mail for just the amount of $ you need; a surprise phone call/visit; words spoken by a complete stranger; the wind changing course, a stop light, a hug, a smile. GRATITUDE for all things IN ALL THINGS reaps ABUNDANCE.



This has been such a cleansing and eye opening journey for me. However, even though I'm at the "end of the exercise" my attitude of gratitude cannot end here. I try to think of it more as a beginning. The 40 days was just the beginning of how my heart needs to be in each day of my life. 
As I discuss perfect timing in my thanks for today, I reflect back on my night last night and the previous day with Jason. 


Thursday: 


9:30 AM The girls leave for Thanksgiving with their dad and his family. 
9:45 Jason and I leave for a fun filled day together, in celebration, in love, and in need of not sitting in an empty quiet house. 
10:00 Cinemark - The Blind Side - what an excellent movie - no expectations of it, but I would see it again and again and most likely will add it to my "The Girls Need to Watch This" movie collection. 
12:25 Leave movie and head south to III Forks for a 3 course meal
12:45 We are seated and began giving thanks for all we have, are able to provide, and the course both of our lives have taken up to this point
2:00 We leave and head north again - time for New Moon - much better than the first, but a little disappointed it wasn't better ( The Blind Side was REALLY good)
4:30 It's Starbucks time - we barely make it before they close! 
5:00 Going to our 3rd movie of the day Precious - I was prepared for the content of this movie and, though, it was disturbing, I believe it painted a very real picture of many of the youth in our country. 
7:30 Now what? 


The whole day we had been right on time for every movie, every reservation, and even for a peppermint mocha! Perfect timing was in every move we made, every stop at a red light, every moment that danced across our day. 


We ended up at IHOP. I ordered a BLT and it came without the T. I laughed it off. After all, "T" had been our theme for the day- so had the number 3. Thursday, Thanksgiving, III Forks, 3 movies, and we never left the toll (Dallas North Tollway). 


After that we decided to get home for some sleep before the 4 AM trip to Target! 


As a complete side note, any man that can get up that early to shop with crazy people who use shopping carts as weapons, still find the good deals AND make me laugh in the wee hours - is perfect in my book. :) 


Last night after we got the girls to sleep and settled in their beds, we settled on the couch with som TV. 


Perfect timing.  Even though I have this movie - the channel that was on the screen was playing Facing the Giants. I don't care what type of movie watcher you are - this is an excellent movie with excellent scenes and a lifelong message if your heart is open to it.


God's timing is perfection. In the chaos, it IS perfection. Our attitudes reflect our hearts. Faith is going the distance BECAUSE we do not know what is ahead. 

As I watch, I realize that the main character decides (chooses) to show gratitude in every situation - win or loss, on the field or off. Once he decides to do this, his life takes an abundant turn. 


I begin thinking of this song that I accidentally stumbled upon last week:


I'm Still Yours - Kutless
When my life is not what I expected
The plans I made have failed
When there's nothing left to steal me away
Will You be enough for me?
Will my broken heart still sing?

If I lost it all, would my hands stay lifted
To the God who gives and takes away?
If You take it all, this life You've given
Still my heart will sing to You

Even if You take it all away
You'll never let me go
You take it all away and I still know
That I'm Yours, I'm still Yours



Gratitude in all things, FOR ALL THINGS creates ABUNDANCE. 

The Power Of Gratitude

I've been thinking a lot about how so many people are on Facebook or Twitter lately. My friends age range span about 50 years. To me, this is an amazing thing and a powerful tool of united people across the globe.

I've also been thinking how fast information gets out to our friends or the public if we have a public profile. We post that someone has the flu and before 10 minutes is over it can be all over a small town.

Then, I was reminded last week, how some people either continually use their status to vent on an on-going basis or they seem status-crazed by updating their status every few minutes.

I have a friend who actually goes in and deletes people based on the substance of their social networking content. Then, because of deleting people, she seems to get flack because the other party thought they were "friends." I have my own opinions of the whole "facebook friend thing," but I'll save that for another day. :)

While sitting at a red light the other day, I realized that I could use Facebook to bring both positivity into my life and remind others of the positives in their life. Some of my own friends already do this and their words of encouragement always make my day better.

I'm a BIG believe in an attitude of gratitude and so I thought as we approach the holidays it would be a good time for me to once again remind myself and the things I'm most thankful for.

I do this for several reasons:

- focusing on the blessings leaves less time for worry

- acknowledging our own blessings allow us more time to also help others

_ an abundant attitude creates more abundance

- gratitude stresses the importance of living in the moment

-being reminded of the non-tangible in my life puts less focus on the things I have or think I need


- creating my own thankful heart helps my girls to develop their own gratitude

- Even on the worst of days, there is always something to smile about or be grateful for


It's so much easier to vent or be negative, but putting thought into being positive creates that positivity we all need during our daily struggles. So - even though I find myself wanting to post a venting status or put a negative spin on something - I won't. And putting those positives in writing makes them even more powerful.

For 40 days I've decided to post my thankfulness of the things and people in my life. Ironically, I will finish day 40 the week of Thanksgiving.   I invite you to join me! :)