Tag: Thanksgiving

Yesterday, you served someone that needed a hand up. It wasn’t so hard. At least mentally. Right? How glorious and like the savior, to lift someone up, lighten a load, and carry a burden.

But what about all of those above you on life’s totem pole? The funny thing is, that totem pole is all inside your own head. Everyone has something dragging them down. And if they say they don’t they either have a good attitude or they’re lying. And I doubt it’s all good attitude, maybe partially, but not entirely. Everyone has bad days. It’s part of the plan. Everyone has something to work on, something to overcome and something to learn. Or they wouldn’t be here.

As humans, we tend to find things others have that we lack. Someone has all the money they need to pay the bills and actually gets to buy their wants. Someone has all the faith it takes to overcome the obstacles. Someone’s burdens are lighter. Someone has angel children. Someone has lots of children.

Think of someone who you think has “everything.” I bet it was pretty easy to find them in your mind. Now find a way to serve them.

The interesting thing is, by so doing, you will realize how much pride comes into play in your heart. And when you realize it’s there, send it packing. Pride and gratitude don’t mix, and it’s time for ours to take a vacation. A long one. Possibly forever. Perhaps that is one of the biggest blinders man has that God doesn’t. Pride distorts our views of our fellow beings. It keeps us from seeing people as they really are. God doesn’t have those distortions. Everyone has something to love about them, and something they’re working on.

so today, see people as God sees them. Serve them.

If you aced yesterday’s Anyway Principle, you’ll have no problems with today. We’re simply taking a step up. Yesterday’s anyway principle showed us how easy service can be. It’s just one extra step in a direction we were going anyway. But that’s not the all-encompassing direction of service. Sometimes service is out of our way. Sometimes it isn’t something we are doing anyway. But it still needs done, and sometimes we are the best person for the job. Today, do one act of service that is out of your way. [tooltip text=”Bigweld; Robots, 2005″]See a need, fill an need.[/tooltip] Observe and serve. And then if you revert back to the Anyway service, that’s okay, too.

I feel that as long as you’re thanking someone, it counts as thanking them. If you only write one thank you note, that’s okay. At least write one. For the rest of November, thank someone however feels the most real to you.

The benefit of thank you notes is that they can be kept after you write them. A compliment is forgotten quickly, but a thank you note can be seen and recalled to memory often.

And an added bonus: I am so much better at writing than I am at speaking.

So, our daily checklist looks something like this:

1. Wake up and say it’s a glorious day
2. Take 30 seconds to just be glad you’re alive.
3. Look for the silver lining.
4. Go for a walk
5. write down 3 paragraphs about how you are blessed.
6. Tell someone thank you.

See, we’re on day 11 and only have 6 things per day to do! That’s not too complicated. Ahh, the benefits of expounding instead of expanding.

Sometimes saying thank you is outside of your comfort zone. Do it anyway!

I know that for me (who, according to personality tests is both an introvert and an extrovert… explain that one), every day of going outside of your comfort zone would end up personally exhausting instead of invigorating, so this day’s challenge only needs to be done once, or as applicable. Still thank someone every day, but if you don’t make it out of your comfort zone, that’s okay. Or if thanking ANYONE is out of your comfort zone, today is just an extra day to practice that skill (and if it’s out of your comfort zone, you’re making it too hard. work on making it easy by slipping int into conversation. It’ll get easier) before adding a new one.

Break out the ol’ thank you cards! For today’s challenge, tell someone thank you! You can either mail a card, tell a person in person, or take an easy route and thank them on Facebook or some other social media. My guess is that I will use all three by the end of November.

You can thank just about anyone. That’s the nice thing. Sometimes it’s pretty obvious whom to thank. Other times, it will take some thinking. I find it easier to find someone to thank in the moment, because otherwise, it seems forced. But you have to watch for it.

If, by the end of the day, you haven’t found some person you are grateful for, pull out your thank you notes and think back. Is there someone who helped you out in life and went unnoticed? Is there someone that had a hand in molding your life into what it is now and had no idea they affected you so much? Write a thank you card to them. You never know how much that note will mean to them. Or to you!

Today, along with all previous challenge steps, go for a walk. In the cold (It’s November). Enjoy the weather. No seriously, enjoy the weather. So it’s cold… But is the sun still shining? You can enjoy the extra boost to the vitamin D. Is it snowing/raining? You can feel joy in the added moisture in the water supply. Cloudy? well, at least the sun isn’t scalding. This particular part of the challenge is easy for me, but not as easy for those I speak to regularly. Walking isn’t everyone’s favorite. And that’s okay. I still highly recommend it. To me, walking is “me time” at it’s fullest. I’m still able to accomplish something, so I don’t feel like my time is wasted (exercise, check! Care for my body, check! Plan my day, check!), but I can’t do too much at once, like I am prone to do if I am in my house (load laundry, eat breakfast, take notes on such-and-such, update the blog, check Facebook 10 times even though there’s nothing new, and plan what task I will be doing next; yes, I’ve done all of that at once). As women, as mothers, we are multitasking too often. In walking, we’re still multitasking, but in a balanced way that brings peace to the rest of the day. Men, too! When we are walking, we are free to think about life. We are free to balance our lives and create order internally. While walking, brains have a way of lining themselves back up, and that internal order begins spilling out externally. And then you get the benefits of the vitamin D exposure (as one who does not store vitamins properly, extra exposure is a HUGE selling point for me). And the endorphin from the body movement without the exhaustion from exertion (say that 10 times fast… exhaustion from exertion, exhaustion from exertion… yeah, enough). Walking outside helps you feel good. My life has been an adventure. I’ve never been one to say “in this moment, I am happy.” Smiling never came naturally to me. But when I walk, thoughts of that nature come into my head. I find myself smiling for no reason. Just to be outside and moving and doing right by my body, I find happiness. And that is something I am grateful for.