The Importance and Power of Practicing Gratitude

One of my goals for 2017 has been to do an ongoing daily gratitude "challenge."

I say "challenge," because the challenge is to make a daily post (on Instagram which you can follow me on by clicking here.) about something I am grateful for, but really it has been such a gift - a gift to take time every day to be consciously aware and express gratitude for the gifts that life gives.

It can also be "challenging" to focus on gratitude when "life" happens.

Our default tendency seems to be to focus on the few things that go wrong (small or big) vs all the things that are going right. The "bad stuff," of life often happens over a series of moments. Much in the same that the "good stuff," is occurring from moment to moment too.

Where we miss out in life is when we define an entire day by what happens in a series of moments.

Perhaps this is just me being naive, but I have yet to meet a human being who has experienced 24 hours (1,440 moments) and within that time there was not one moment that could be classified as "good," or one thing that could not be found to be grateful for.

Gratitude is always there, sometimes you have to look a hell of a lot harder to see it, but it will be there.

Today I am sharing my most recent gratitude post with you. The reason being because it illustrates, in my opinion, about the power of gratitude and our ability to find and focus on it in the midst of challenging times. I'll let you read on...

365 Days Of Gratitude Day 286

Today I am grateful for choice (there's a message in this one I hope you'll take to heart❤️).    

I had an absolutely amazing first part of the day and a not so good last couple hours of the day, let me explain...

You've likely heard me say before that each and every day we have a choice in how we experience life. That ability to choose also empowers us to find and focus on things to be grateful for no matter what life may through at us. 

Today is a perfect example: the majority of my day was amazing... it started early (about 3:45am) with some work, then I competed in the 3rd round of a public speaking competition which I won 1st place in! I'm excited and now I get the opportunity to go onto the finals and compete against some extremely talented professional speakers! (Yes in the speaking world we use terms like "compete" "tough" and "competition" lol).

Next I got to spend a couple hours wine tasting  and enjoying lunch with a few special people. 

At the end of the day I received word of a family emergency. The outcome does not look good. Lots of emotions came up. 

How the day ended was shitty and sad, but how the day was lived and experienced before then was amazing. 

If the focus is only on the shitty/sad part then I rob myself of the joy, the love, the sense of accomplishment etc... I experienced earlier in the day. I feel sadness in this moment, but I did not feel sadness for most of this day. In fact I felt the exact opposite of sadness. Enter in choice: define the day by my sadness? Or acknowledge the sadness, but also acknowledge there were a lot of great things about today. 

Life will be hard, sometimes. Bad things will happen to good people, sometimes. Tragedies will occur, sometimes. Loved ones will leave us, sometimes. Life will seem unfair, sometimes. 

Sometimes. Not ALL the time. 

No matter what life gives you, you, and I, have a choice. 

That's me for today. Now it is your turn. What are you grateful for?

Carpe Diem,

Jesse

http://www.jessebrisendine.com

http://www.facebook.com/1year1000challenge

Perspective: Life Lessons Learned in a Hospital Waiting Room

Hi Everyone,

I appologize for my absence from blogging, I have been spending a lot of time getting my business organized so I can deliver more and better content to you all.  I hope everyone has been enjoying Katie's awesome blogs she has been putting up.

Has anyone tried her Cauliflower dish yet?

I had an experience the other day that I really wanted to share with you all as I think it serves as a powerful reminder that we all have so much to be grateful for.

On Tuesday I was at the doctors office having a consultation for an ongoing problem I have been having.  I was feeling pretty bummed out.  I have been dealing with this issue since September of last year.  I have followed all recommendations, tried a variety of different treatments, changed my diet, visualized it healing, willed it away, and yet... it lingers.

This lingering problem leaves me in a fair amount of pain and discomfort throughout the day.  Furthermore the medication for it is horrible.  I take it and I instantly get a headache and feel like I am going to pass out.  The headaches last for several hours and often times reach a migraine level of intensity.

What is worse than the pain is the way it has been affecting my lifestyle.  Travel has been very hard as has been doing many of the outdoors and social things I really enjoy doing (hence the reason you all have not been seeing as many pictures from me as usual).  I have been avoiding surgery because I have read one to many horror stories on the internet of worst case scenarios that happen during the operation.  Usually I don't buy into this kind of stuff, but I still experience daily complications/pain from the hernia surgery I had almost two years ago.  Plus, the simple fact, that I just don't want to have surgery! Sooo needless to say I get a little to paranoid about these things.

That's my story.  Through this all I feel like I have kept a pretty great attitude about it.  My friends and I have had quite a few good laughs about it.  More importantly, while it has affected some of the things I enjoy doing, it has given me more time to focus on other things I really enjoy doing.

I think this is so crucial when we encounter obstacles in life.  Don't focus on what you are having to give up.  If you do, it will consume you.  Instead focus on what opportunities you will now have more time for.  Put your love, your energy, your passion into those things, they will help you get through the tough spots.

Anyways, back to my consultation on Tuesday.  So I am sitting there in the waiting room, trying to reassure myself that I really have tried everything, and that surgery is the best decision moving forward.  While I am sitting there I am also having a little pity party that was attended by such phrases as, "this sucks," "I am to young for this crap," "not another surgery," "I don't understand I am so healthy," blah blah blah, etc, etc, etc...

Right as I am at the apex of my feeling like a victim, a doctor walks out with a man who had been sitting quietly in the chair next to me 20 minutes earlier.  The doctor starts talking to the man's wife saying something about how one piece wouldn't fit inside of another or something like that.

Then I heard a noise.

Then another noise.

There was this beep, then a garbled computer sounding noise.

I looked up and immediately felt shammed by my little pity party.  Here was this man, probably in his early 50's who had a trachea box in his throat.  He could not talk, he could only communicate by pushing a button that would then make a noise that alerted people to let them know that he understood.

I can talk, I can sing (kind of), I can communicate, I can use my words to express myself.  More than that, after my operation, barring an internet horror story occurrence, I should be feeling better within a few weeks.  This guy, who knows how long, if ever?

I was reminded of the words my Dad had told me and that I have shared with all of you before: "We never have to look to far to see someone who has it worse than us."

It is true, we never do.  I, you, we all, have so much to be grateful for.  If we all would spend more time focusing on that instead of the not so wonderful stuff, I am convinced the world would be a happier, healthier place.

I went into my appointment with the doctor with an improved attitude.  Surgery is scheduled for this coming Tuesday in the early am.  It is the next step for me, more importantly, I believe it is the right step.  :)

Spend some time today reminding yourself of all the great things in your life.  Take a few moments to focus on all the wonderful opportunities in front of you.  :)

Carpe Diem,

Jesse