Gratitude can change my perspective about things and I find myself being connected to this more and more lately. Ever since this pandemic started in early 2020, I have found myself trying to focus on gratitude & perspective every day. (thanks Gary Vee) and for the most part, it's working. Now, that doesn't mean I don't have problems or troubles - but it is helping me to deal with those things a bit better than before. The key for me is to try and make this Gratitude & Perspective more of a habit so that it becomes an everyday thing that I don't have to think about - it's just happening. This simple picture is something that is a powerful reminder for me. Maybe for you too?
In the first of two blog assignments about gratitude I shared with my students to get their perspectives on, this one was a simple but powerful one for them & for me. First of all, I simply wanted them to find a picture or a quote to put into their blog along with their thoughts about it. This picture is a simple reminder for me that having an attitude of gratitude. It does indeed change everything! My outlook about things being connected to gratitude - I need that reminder a lot ... almost every day!
Gratitude can change my perspective about things and I find myself being connected to this more and more lately. Ever since this pandemic started in early 2020, I have found myself trying to focus on gratitude & perspective every day. (thanks Gary Vee) and for the most part, it's working. Now, that doesn't mean I don't have problems or troubles - but it is helping me to deal with those things a bit better than before. The key for me is to try and make this Gratitude & Perspective more of a habit so that it becomes an everyday thing that I don't have to think about - it's just happening. This simple picture is something that is a powerful reminder for me. Maybe for you too?
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“Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for. Happiness is something you design.” — Jim Rohn
It’s one of the main things that all of us (at least most of us) are looking for in life. I know I want to be happy in my life and that I want to do things to bring more of it to me and those that I care for. I think as we get older, what we know about happiness changes to more of a simple definition. I see it being about relationships, people, simple and quiet things. When we are young I think it’s more along the lines of looking for happiness in many different places and with many different things. Looking back on my life so far, I wish I would could have grasped this simpler definition on happiness and used it. One big key for me is that I have it now! Robert Holden brings up a great point for us to always remember – We do not become happy because we are successful; we become successful because we are happy. Notice how it has nothing to do with money or things. While thinking about this topic, an equation popped into my head: Wanting to bring happiness to others = more of it for me. Jim Rohn is right, which doesn’t come as a surprise, happiness is by design. It doesn’t just happen or fall into our lap. It has everything to do with the way we think, our choices in life and the circumstances we have around us – namely the people we have with us on our journey. There are so many decisions that we make every day that are connected to our happiness. So many little things that we can do and plenty of those things that are all under our control. One of the major items that I think is directly connected to happiness is that of kindness. Shaunti Feldhahn says it well with kindness being about 3 things: withholding unkindess things, saying kind things and doing kind things. Again, things that we can control and I love things that come as a set of three. I can remember them. Another major item on the list of happiness and it’s big everywhere, that is having an attitude of gratitude. I’ve been focusing on this for a couple of years now, especially in the morning as I get up with my first cup of coffee and it has been helping me tremendously. I know this and other things can help you too. You must admit, living a life with more happiness in it is far better than not having it. Right? Always looking for some feedback, conversation, comments, etc. :-) “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero After celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend with family and friends, this thought really connects, or at least it should. This whole idea of being thankful has been presented to me many times recently. It was great to spend time with my family as obviously, like everyone else’s family, mine is getting older. My parents, my wife and I – especially my kids, but of course my sister, her husband and kids too. Of course the same is for my in-laws too. Time is marching on for all of us, all the people I care about. Time going by has many qualities to it, and for me being grateful is one at the top of the list. I think back to the importance of the quote from Tiger Woods about father time being undefeated. It waits for nobody. It keeps moving on. It comes, is here a brief moment and then quickly becomes part of our past. It’s what we do in those brief moments that has me focused on being grateful. Of course I try and make the most of my time, especially in the moment itself – since that is really all we have, but recently I’ve had the ability and thought to be very thankful for those moments while they are happening. I think it’s the simple fact that as time goes by, and we get older, we can’t help but look back at all the memories along with looking forward for the things we still want to accomplish. It’s difficult, but possible to start the process of being grateful earlier in life and not to wait. That’s one of many things that I try to instill in my students and players, for them to start this living in the moment and being very grateful for what they have. Part of it also is the simple fact that I am very grateful for what I get to do each and every day. That is being a teacher and being a basketball coach. There are so many days that I wake up before my alarm and knowing that I have to get up in front of my students, help them, work with them, etc., is something that I don’t take lightly at all. Year after year, I have so many outstanding students that I get to work with each and every day. The current bunch of girls that I get the privilege to be around this basketball season, never ceases to amaze me. This group works so hard and they work together knowing that as a team, we have to continue to get better. My students and players teach me more than they know. So as I finish this blog, a little bit after I started it last week, I am reminded about having a sense of gratitude as I start my day off. Of course the cup of coffee this early in the morning is one of the many things I am thankful for as it helps me to wake up and look ahead to the great day that is in store for me. I am also hopeful that I can help the people that I come into contact with have a little brighter day too. What about you? Your day today – are you finding things that you can have some gratitude for? It is really the one that is tied into so many other things in life. Spend some time today thinking about what you have in your life to be thankful for. Remember too that we don’t have to be thankful just once a year. I’m trying to connect to it more often. It seems to be helping, that’s for sure. Try it! "The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more things you'll have to express gratitude for." - Zig Ziglar
During the last few weeks I’ve really been focused on expressing more gratitude in my life. There have been many times during my knee surgery recovery that I have felt a little down about things. I’ve tried to use some of my own advice that I’ve not only tried to help others with, but I have received the same help from different people too. That help was the idea about wrapping your arms around the down, sad, anger, etc… whatever those feelings and emotions are, and then learn from those feelings and move on. I’ve really tried to give it 15 – 30 minutes some time to really get in touch with those feelings and learn from them. Then I add some gratitude to the process and I have found that gratitude will help make those feelings hurt less so that I can move on and not let them hold me back from doing things I have to do and from living life. We got through a big event at our house this past week. Both of our kids went off to college. It’s been a real emotional tug-of-war for me with both of them gone now. I’m trying to focus on how proud I am of both of them along with being excited for all the opportunities that will come their way too. When I focus on the gratitude part of them being my kids and all the great memories of them growing up and the many lessons they have taught me; that helps in dealing with them being gone. This summer especially since I was on the mend from my knee surgery for around half the summer, they both were a big help to me. Their sacrifices were a difference maker for me and helped me to get to this point of being more self-sufficient and getting around better. There is also a lot of gratitude for me knowing that my wife and I will have more time for each other and really, more time for ourselves too. We have been getting in touch with old friends and plan on doing more things with them as time goes on with our kids being mostly out of the house. School is starting again soon, so I am getting in that frame of mind to get things ready for the start of school after Labor Day. Again, I’m looking at the start with gratitude since I do enjoy doing what I’m doing along with the fact that I get to work with some great students and staff. So take a look as to where you are at in your life and if having some more gratitude about things can make a difference for you. Just try it and I’d be willing to say that you will find things around you looking a whole lot better. In fact, let me know how it goes as you know, I love learning things from others when it comes to success and leadership principles. “Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” — John Henry Jowett
I have found this quote to be totally true many times in my life, but more so recently. As I have been continuing my recovery from my knee-replacement surgery, I have focused on this quote many times, especially over the last day or two and let me tell you; gratitude is every bit of a vaccine, an antitoxin and antiseptic. There have been a few down moments when I start feeling sorry for myself, but this is such a great attitude and outlook adjustment. I have talked to my wife about this too and she totally agrees and has helped me to refocus my attention back on getting better and looking ahead. This also got me remembering a few more things about my stay at the hospital. My first roommate was an elderly gentleman from another country, who could not speak English to well. Plus, being in such close quarters, it was not hard to hear things about what he was battling. He was dealing with throat cancer, something wrong with his jaw along with having recently broken one of his legs too. This got me feeling better right away about my status but I also picked up on how hard his son was working on making sure he was being taken care of. The questions, the time spent in the hospital and on the phone, all to make sure his dad was getting the best care possible. His son had to be a little younger than me, but I was impressed. The language barrier was helped a little with a few doctors & other medical personnel that could speak this man’s native language. So many times you hear of people kind of being left on their own when it comes to these types of health issues. This man's son did such a great job, a lesson for me and everyone. Well, they had to move his dad from this hospital I was at to another one for the different and specialized treatment that he needed. I was alone for a couple of hours until my new roommate arrived. Again, quickly finding out that he was a guy my age having just went through his second back surgery. Now this got my attention quickly as I have back surgery coming up in early November. This guy was a nice guy, hard worker throughout his lifetime and again, I could pick things up even without really talking to him right away. We did talk a few times through the curtain telling about our stories a little bit to each other. It was great to see the support that he had there from his wife and his mom the first evening after his surgery. Then his wife was there for a good part of the day on Thursday. He also had a buddy that came in on Friday morning to visit for a little bit too. I noticed quickly this guy appreciated the people that came to visit him and that he was very grateful for their time spent with him. He was in a lot of pain it seemed, but it didn't keep him from doing the little things he had to start to do to get better. We found ourselves talking a few times, trying to keep encouraging each other a little bit along with having some fun with some light-hearted comments and a bit of laughter. We spent a little time talking about how will have to find a new profession / career as with his injuries his doctors have told him he would have to make some changes. As I had my time to spend thinking, this got me thinking how grateful I was for the time spent with both roommates and the lessons that each gave to me. I am now into my Physical Therapy sessions. First was four visits here at home and now I have started this week going to my regular Physical Therapist as an outpatient. I knew it would be challenging and difficult, but I have also been thinking about this for months leading up to my surgery, the fact that I have to do these exercises and work through the pain in order to get better. I can tell already from the people that I have been working with, that there are many more lessons of gratitude here for me to learn from and to focus on. There will be more thoughts, observations, lessons and discussions coming from this for sure. We all have things that we go through everyday. There are always lessons of gratitude there for us to learn from for sure. What are some of the lessons you have learned on your journey in life? "Do not take anything for granted — not one smile or one person or one rainbow or one breath, or one night in your cozy bed." ~Terri Guillemets
As I got a little bit of bonus time to sit back and do some thinking over the last few days, this quote was something that came to mind during those moments. When I read this today, I knew I had to share some thoughts and ideas from time spent contemplating life recently. You see, I had knee-replacement surgery this past Tuesday, July 15 and during my stay in the hospital for a few days I did take many moments and thinking of all of the many things that I am grateful for. I’m happy to say that it wasn't the hospital stay that did this for me, for I have thought about these things during other times of my life. But it was the hospital stay that reminded me about them and I did get to spend more time taking these thoughts in and dwelling on them a lot more than I normally would have. First thought that came to mind was my health. Here I was having major surgery on my right knee, yet this was to make it better along with improving my quality of life for everything else; work, doing things with family, not being held back with things I could not do anymore, etc. There is a saying that if we have our health, we have it all. I couldn't agree more. After seeing others in the same predicament and other issues in the hospital, I can honestly say it one major item in my life that I need to work on more in the future and that is taking better care of myself. Second thought was my family. I cannot say enough about my wife Susanne. What she is sacrificing to help me during this time is amazing. I know there are many times where we get under each others’ skins with the things we do and say, but the love, dedication and support she has given to me during these first few days it’s all been things that I have not left gone unnoticed. My parents, at age 48 I am still blessed to have my parents in my life where I know for many others my age, older and younger; they cannot say the same thing. I know too many people that have lost their parents and can never see them again here in this life. I've reminded my kids plenty of times to make sure they take the time to visit with and talk to all 4 of their grandparents for that’s another rarity in life. Being 20 or 18 years old and still having all of your grandparents around is such a cool thing that everyone knows won't last. My mom came out for the surgery to sit with my wife. Then both my parents came out the next day to visit me in the hospital and I had just got done with my first session of Physical Therapy. I was in so much pain while they were there for their visit. They just supported me for a little bit of time and then they knew I just needed my medicine along with rest, so they took off after a short visit. Then my wife and kids came in during the evening of that first day in the hospital after my surgery. My daughter’s boyfriend came too, which was great. I loved the moments I got to share with them that evening. My wife came back to visit on Thursday which was great. Just her and I having some time together – she even snuck in something from Taco Bell for me too. Then on Friday, I was going home. My parents come through again. They came out to the hospital and helped make sure everything was okay, asking questions that I didn't, making sure we all knew the about the discharge instructions, helping to pack up the few things that I had there with me, just making sure I got home safe. Third – the amount of texts and well wishes that I got before my surgery and after. It meant so much to me the messages and notes I got from people that remembered that I was having this surgery. I really didn't post anything about this ahead of time. Maybe I should have, but I've always been a guy that doesn't like to put the spotlight on myself. But at the same time, I figured I could write about this and maybe do some other things with this part of my story because maybe it would help someone else going through things that they are facing. Fourth, the smiles from the staff that worked with me there at the hospital. Amazing! It’s been really amazing looking back in this process with all the health care professionals I've dealt with during the last few years battling this knee and other issues. Their attitudes and professionalism has been one the key factors with me wanting to take on and deal with these things head on. Their support, caring attitudes, time spent with me and yes their smiles, have all been a very positive difference with me and this entire process. Another one that I actually had to do and of course it was a great reminder for all of us too, and that is counting our breaths. I had to count taking deep breaths on a little portable plastic device that measured my breath and when to exhale. This was set up to help displace any pneumonia scares by giving my lungs a good workout even though I was going to be in bed a lot. So there I was counting my breaths during all the different times of day and night. I always remember the line from Tuesday’s With Morrie, where Morrie tells Mitch that it’s a good idea to count our breaths once in awhile, it helps us to keep from putting things off that we know we have to do. As I counted my breaths, it got me thinking how grateful that I am still able to take my own breaths and how precious they really are in our lives. Finally, this quote got me thinking about that first night back in my own cozy bed. If you have ever stayed in a hospital, I think we all can agree that a good night’s sleep is not usually found there without medications mind you. I slept decently during my stay as I shared a room with a roommate. With medical people coming in during all hours of the night for both of us, it was easy to not get a complete night of rest. My bed really has never felt any better than on that first night back. Of course there are many more things that I am thankful for, but these were the ones I connected with this quote. How about you? Take a few moments to count your breaths along with some of the many things you are grateful for and let me or others know about it as just by you sharing your grateful items will help others to focus on what they have to be thankful for in their lives. “When opportunity comes, it’s too late to prepare.” - Coach John Wooden
So many quotes connect with my life, this is just one of many. I know that I've missed out on opportunities since I wasn't prepared. It's one of the many things I try and get my students to learn from my examples. Coach John Wooden was one who didn't wait for opportunities to come his way. He not only prepared for them before they came, he made his own opportunities for himself and his teams. What a great lesson for all of us, especially in today's worrisome times. I saw another story that had a part that really stood out to me, it actually gave me a quick little poke on my nose to wake me up and remind me -again, of things I should be doing. This was from John Tapene, from Northland College on some comments he heard from a judge who deals with teens. Part of this said ".... start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and somebody is you." This really connected with me. I made a comment on this entire message (which I will put below this entry) on Facebook that this message is not just for teens. It's for each and every one of us. Today is the day to prepare and yes, that somebody is indeed me to get ready for the opportunities that are out there. Any thoughts on this or the picture below? Always interested in what you have to say as I know I can learn so much from you. "We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." ~Cynthia Ozick
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AuthorI have been an educator for more than 32 years. It's about time I start sharing lessons that I have learned so that I can help others. I'm into Leadership, Teaching, Coaching Basketball, and being a Difference Maker. Coffee helps me do that :-) Archives
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