Sunday Sunshine: Hope Over Fear

We hang onto them as if they were among our most prized possessions. We keep a firm grip on them so we can draw upon them throughout our waking—and especially our nighttime—hours. They are our worries and fears.

When we give them our attention and energy, our fears and worries become bigger, darker and more foreboding, especially in those middle-of-the-night hours when all seems darker, bigger and scarier. Don’t let them consume you.

Do not be afraid. Look fears and worries straight in the eye. Turn them around and scoot them out the door. Let them float away with the wind.

Fill those empty spaces instead with hope and gratitude. Focus on the blessings of this moment, and your worries and fears won’t find room to come back. Face the light.

Today, this week:  Focus on your blessings, not your worries or fears.

Sunday Sunshine: Seeking Joy? Start by Being Grateful.

It’s November. Thanksgiving will soon be upon us.

When you think about Thanksgiving—both the holiday and the state of being—what can you name right now that you’re thankful for?

When you’re grateful and you see abundance in your life, have you found that your perspective changes and it’s easier to see more and more abundance, that your abundance grows? Do you also notice that your level of joy increases, too?

When your heart is filled with thanksgiving, it will also be filled with joy. Being grateful and being joyful are closely linked. One feeds the other: Gratitude feeds joy and joy feeds gratitude.

Today, this week: Be grateful and watch your joy grow.

Sunday Sunshine: I'm Thankful for All I Have

We have officially entered November today -- that lovely month of Thanksgiving. 

Rather than confine that sense of gratitude to only one day, consider counting your blessings every single day this month.

Reportedly, it takes around 30 days to re-wire your brain to adopt a new habit or shed an old, less-desirable one. Use this month's 30 days to name your blessings every day -- perhaps upon awakening, at meal time or before falling asleep at night.

Name just one blessing in your life each day this month and realize just how very rich you are.

Today, this week: Remember that your life is rich and abundant. Name your blessings. Be grateful for all that you have.

Sunday Sunshine: You Can Do It!

The glass is half full or it's half empty. Which is it? It's all in your perspective.

The same is true with what you can or can't do. It's all in your perspective. 

We hear story after story of people who have exceeded their limitations, gone against all odds to accomplish great things.

You are "wired" to do great things, too. When you direct your energies toward accomplishing something and do so with a can-do spirit, you may surprise yourself and find that you can do far more than you ever thought imaginable.

Today, this week: Remember that you are filled with energy to manifest the things you desire. Believe in yourself. You can do it!

Sunday Sunshine: Fill in the Blank

A small, hand-printed sign appeared on a tiny table in our church's fellowship hall one Sunday morning. Its message read: "One thing that made me happy was...." If you weren't looking, you might have missed the sign. But how important that fill-in-the-blank is.

Every day, we learn of people who are hurting due to losses, illnesses, relationship stress, work stress, financial stress and other difficulties.

Think about one thing that made you happy yesterday and one thing you did to make someone else's yesterday happy. 

Now consider what will make you happy today and how you might spread that sunshine to someone else. Let the good vibe ripples flow. 

You have the power to make your day one of happiness, joy, gratitude and discovery. It's all in what you choose.

Today, this week: Remember that you have the power to make your day a happy one. 

Sunday Sunshine: Live a Life of Thanksgiving

It's the week of Thanksgiving, that lovely holiday when we reflect on all that is good, all that is blessing. Often on that day we gather with others to share our bounty. Often, we break bread together, sharing a meal of larger-than-normal proportions. 

Perhaps your Thanksgiving table will be laden with turkey, dressing, cranberries, mashed potatoes and gravy, that ubiquitous green bean casserole, and maybe even a pie or two. Perhaps those around your table will hold hands, share laughs, share love. 

Or perhaps your Thanksgiving will be quiet, maybe just you or maybe in an intimate experience with one other person or a small group. Perhaps your meal won't be of feast-like proportions.

In whatever ways you spend the holiday this week, whether quiet or loud, solo or surrounded by family and friends, we all share the same opportunity to enjoy it with a spirit of thanksgiving -- giving thanks for what you have in your life.

As you express your gratitude for your blessings, spread that gratitude, joy and love beyond Thanksgiving to the other days in your life. Being thankful shouldn't be reserved for only one day a year in November. Make the most of every single day by treating it as a gift to be savored and appreciated. 

We each have abundance in our lives. When we spend time reflecting on that abundance, it becomes clearer to us and our opportunities for thanksgiving grow.

Today, this week, this Thanksgiving: Be thankful for the abundance in your life. Spread bountifully your gratitude, joy and love. 

Sunday Sunshine: Feel Peace

Life can be rather a stressful experience. There are all kinds of reasons to feel stressed. As a culture, we thrive more and more on conflict -- with others and with ourselves.

It seems these days that people tend to like feeling stressed and conflicted. We surely talk (or tweet or post) a lot about those things that make us feel that way. We zip about quickly, trying to do too much. We don't take good care of ourselves. At the end of the day, we're exhausted and spent and perhaps even a bit lonely as we isolate ourselves from others, hidden behind our electronic devices.

Tomorrow is Veterans Day in the United States. As those of us who live in America reflect on the men and women who have heroically served our country and continue to do so around the globe, let's also take a few moments to pause and express gratitude to them -- perhaps through your thoughts and prayers, perhaps through your words and actions. Think healing thoughts of peace for them.

Then, think about how you can diffuse the stressful, conflicted moments in your own life so that you feel grateful, connected and at peace. Once you feel that sense of peace, be generous with it. Spread it around so that when others feel stressed or conflicted, they'll feel your peaceful energy and find that they, too, can live in such a wonderful state.

Today, this week: Feel peace. Spread peace. Live peace. Be peace.

The Quiet Grace of Gratitude

"What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and all you had is what you thanked God for yesterday?" That message, which landed on my Facebook timeline several months ago, made me pause as it reminded me of the quiet grace of gratitude.

Gratitude isn't showy, bossy or bold. Gratitude is a quiet state of knowing, a peaceful place of blessing. 

Gratitude seems to be the perfect theme for November, a month marked by not only the American holiday of Thanksgiving, but also the quieting of nature. After the vibrant colors of summer followed by the crayon box of brilliant hues in October, November arrives appropriately in shades of tan and taupe. With it comes the opportunity to pause, to soak up the silence and to be grateful -- even to be grateful for making time to be grateful.

As human beings, our wants are often greater than our needs. When we pause and reflect on our blessings, both large and small, grand and everyday, immediate and evergreen, everything changes. When we're grateful, we often find that what we have is enough. There is a quiet peace in having that deep knowing that it is all enough, there is no need for more, what we have is already blessing.

As I joined three others from my church at an out-of-state conference last year, our pastor led us in prayer before we embarked on our road trip and before each meal. It didn't matter if we were at a fast-food restaurant or taking our sandwich with us in the car, she made sure that we spent a moment in reflection and prayer that always included the words "thank you."

One of those pre-meal reflections was based on a tradition in her household where those dining together share something aloud for which they are grateful that day. I found, as I always do, that when I am forced to think about my blessings, they seem to bubble up in such abundance that naming one blessing isn't sufficient.

As a child, our family's meal prayer consisted of these lovely words: "Thank you for the world so sweet. Thank you for the food we eat. Thank you for the birds that sing. Thank you, God, for everything."

I haven't said that prayer for a long time, but its words are affixed to my childhood memories and I realize that I should say them more often. As I look at those 26 words now, I see that they say it all. The prayer focuses on the good that surrounds us and is inside of us, the magnificence found in the details of the natural world, the blessing of having food to nourish our bodies, and the realization that everything, everything is blessing.

Everything is blessing. Everything.

As an adult, I often experience overwhelming feelings of gratitude. Those feelings are likely fueled by the daily conditioning I do of naming three things for which I'm grateful upon awakening and then repeating the practice before I fall asleep at night. The act of framing my day in gratitude affects my perspective all day long.

How do you experience the quiet grace of gratitude? Take a cue from the gentle shades of November and sit quietly, if only for a few moments each day, to express your thanks. Everything is blessing. Everything. May you feel blessed today and every day.

Sunday Sunshine: Count Your Blessings

When the alarm clock rings, what are your first thoughts? Do you think about what you're going to wear? Do you worry that you might have overslept? Are you in a hurry? In a fog? Do you feel excited for the new day? Or do you feel a sense of dread? Or, perhaps even worse, a sense of resignation that the day will be the "same old, same old"?

What if you turned your mornings inside out and upside down until they were right side up by expressing your gratitude? That's right! Try being thankful at the start of your new day. How might your day, how might everything look if you chose to view it through the lens of gratitude?

At the end of the day, repeat the process. As you place your head on the pillow and get ready to relax, rest and renew, spend a few moments naming your blessings. Chances are you'll even sleep better. 

It's amazing what a little dose of gratitude can do. Try it! A grateful heart makes all of your hours a gift.

Today, this week: Spend time each morning and each evening counting your blessings. 

Sunday Sunshine: State of Gratitude

How do you normally begin your day? Is it a struggle to get out of bed? Or do you leap out of bed, ready for whatever the new day brings? 

Do you first think about your worries when you awaken? Or do you start the day with a happy heart?

Begin your day in a state of gratitude. When you are thankful, you set the tone for more good things to happen.

It's as if gratitude is a magnet. The more grateful you are for what you already have, the more reasons to be grateful appear in your life. It's all about your perspective. 

There's always, always, always something to be thankful for. Start your day thinking about those blessings. It changes everything.

Today, this week: Begin your day in a state of gratitude and watch your blessings multiply.

Sunday Sunshine: There's Beauty Everywhere

For years, I walked by that short row of arbor vitae evergreens, not paying much attention to them. They were located on my way to the building where I worked. I paid little attention to them because my thoughts were focused on my work day.

Then, one day after I had undergone some profound challenges in my life--my own illness and the passing of my mother, that same row of arbor vitae became new to me. It was then, finally, that I noticed the birds who lived in those arbor vitae. Every morning and every evening when I walked past them, the birds would sing and sing and sing to me. I had finally awakened. I was finally paying attention to the beauty that was around me.

As my eyes and ears became more aware, I started noticing the brilliant setting sun as I left work each evening. I stood, transfixed, looking out the window before an early-morning work meeting, watching the magnificent sunrise.

It was as if everything was new to me and it was beautiful. The challenges and sorrows that I had experienced in my life had given me the gift of opening my eyes, my ears and my heart to the beauty that was all around me.

At times, we admittedly have tunnel vision. We see what we think we need to see. We hear what we think we need to hear. 

Wake up! Look up! Listen up! There's beauty up and down and all around!

Today, this week: Pay attention to what's around you. Experience its beauty with gratitude and awe.

Sunday Sunshine: Out Like A ______?

The blustery month of March is nearly behind us. Will it go out like a lion or a lamb? Thankfully, it appears to be the latter this year.

Whatever the weather ultimately decides to do, think of this day as one of transition.

What does the end of the month mean to you? What does the eve of a new month represent in your life?

Review the blessings you’ve experienced in the past month. Name them. Spend time breathing in their life-affirming properties so that you experience those blessings for a second time.

Now, look to your hopes, dreams and wishes for the new month to come. Name them. Spend time examining how you will make those desires a reality, what first steps you will take.

When you move beyond your distractions to a place of complete presence, you begin to see the blessing and the opportunity in each new day.

Today, this week: Be present to the moments in each of your days. Breathe in your blessings and opportunities with gratitude.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Celebrate! Give Thanks!

It's the week after Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean that thanksgiving is over. 

In the 1970s, a song called Celebrate was made popular by the musical group Three Dog Night. The lyrics to that song called us to “Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music.”

Look up! Smile! Celebrate! Dance the joyful dance of gratitude for all that you have in your life. Invite others to join in that dance with you, passing your blessings freely on to them.

Today, this week: Give thanks for the abundance in your life. Feel the light in those blessings. Then, share that light with others.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: It's a New Day!

You have just received a gift—a beautiful, big gift wrapped in the finest of paper and tied with an elegant bow. That gift is this new day!

We may think that our days will go on and on forever and ever, but we know (especially as we grow older and are forced to confront the realities of life) that those days have always been numbered. We will receive only so many of them.

Therefore, what will you do to honor the gift of this day?

Today, this week, show your gratitude for the day’s gifts and blessings.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Cultivate a Spirit of Contentment

It’s November. Thanksgiving will be upon us in just a few weeks. When you think about Thanksgiving—both the holiday and the state of being—what can you name right now that you’re thankful for?

When you’re grateful and you see abundance in your life, have you found that your perspective changes and it’s easier to see more and more abundance, that your abundance grows?

When you’re grateful, does it help you to see that you have “enough” in life, that it changes your needs and wants?

Today, this week: Ask yourself, “What does having ‘enough’ mean to me?” Then, cultivate a spirit of contentment.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Embrace Abundance

With the changing of the trees to beautiful autumn color, think blessing. Just as you see the change in the trees, change your way of thinking to recognize all of the abundance in your life.

As you embrace that abundance, the lens through which you see the world will change so that even more abundance will seem to naturally come to you. 

Blessing begets blessing when you direct your focus there. Being in a grateful state sets the stage for more and more for which to be grateful.

Today, this week: Use the autumnal changes to the landscape as a prompt to shift your thinking and your energy. Embrace your abundance and give thanks.

Fresh Thoughts for Your Monday: Adopt a Posture of Gratitude

Start your day in a posture of gratitude. When you open your eyes, ready to welcome the new day, before you step foot out of bed, name three things for which you are grateful.

When you start your day with a heart of gratitude, it sets the stage for the rest of your waking hours.

Not sure where to begin? Remember that even the smallest, most ordinary things hold extraordinary abundance.

Today, this week: Be thankful and you will find that you have more and more for which to be thankful.

Now Thank We All Our God

On this first day of November, my thoughts go to thanks and to the lovely hymn, "Now Thank We All Our God." I have been making it a practice for several years to list three things for which I'm grateful upon awakening and again before I go to sleep at night. Such daily and nightly exercises help me keep perspective in the face of the myriad stresses, both major and minor, that can clog up my day. It's easy to get bogged down with the "have-nots" when my life is actually so filled with "haves." By reminding myself of just three things for which to be grateful, I become more centered, positive and hopeful. Recently, I ran into a friend who I don't have the opportunity to see often. One of her first questions to me was to ask about my health. Then, she reminded me ever so wisely that if we have our health and happiness, we pretty much have everything that we need. Just a month earlier, I had suffered a health scare that, fortunately, turned out to be nothing worrisome. However, my friend's words about health and happiness reminded me of the worry I had experienced just a few weeks prior. Health and happiness are linked, but they don't necessarily have to be. I know of numerous people who have taught me the lesson that one's health doesn't have to have power over one's happiness. While one benefits from the other, it is possible to experience happiness even when our health isn't where we would like it to be. Being grateful for each day and saying it with our "hearts and hands and voices" is what Thanksgiving is all about, and Thanksgiving should really be every day.

Spring Cleaning

It was a slate-gray, windy and rainy Sunday, and I was home in my pajamas and robe, snuggled in my chair, coughing, blowing my nose and suffering from aches and chills. The weather and my body seemed to be accurate reflections of each other. A spring cold was not on my to-do list. While I missed several scheduled events due to this unwelcome cold visiting me, including singing in a choir concert that afternoon, I decided to use my quiet time to spring clean. Unlike the physical exertions of washing windows, removing clutter from closets and scrubbing down cupboards, this spring cleaning involved ridding myself of the clutter in my mind. First of all, I searched for those things that were lurking around in the recesses that didn't contribute to my well-being. I found that I had a more than generous load of assumptions, expectations and sorrows that were only weighing me down. As I searched some more, I uncovered grudges, judgments and over-commitments. There were stresses, uncertainties, fears, worries, negative thoughts, sad memories and statements I wished I could take back. With eyes closed, I visualized unloading these burdens that were causing me so much harm and creating in me a sense of dis-ease. I evaluated each concern and worked to frame it more positively, turning fear into hope, sorrow into gratitude, stress into peace, uncertainty into clarity, worry into joy, crisis into opportunity, old hurts into new understandings. I was amazed at how hard it was to let go of those burdens (Why did I still want to own them?), but as I released them little by little, my mind, body and spirit felt healthier. Who would have guessed that a cold, in all of its untimeliness and unpleasantness, could actually end up being the gift of such necessary spring cleaning?

Thankful Day and Night

Several months ago, I started a new ritual of listing three blessings in my life upon waking and three more blessings before falling asleep at night.  Bookending my day with gratitude by thinking of the good that awaits me and that took place during my waking hours has proven to be a valuable exercise for me. When I begin and end my day in a state of gratitude, it frames my way of thinking for all of my other waking hours. My outlook on life is more optimistic.  Even my sleep is more restful.  As the old song goes, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I've found that I have so many blessings I can barely count them.