Yikes!

It seemed like a good idea at the time....
art by Shirley Gibson

Do you ever feel like your life is spiraling out of control?
Did you ever bite off more than you could chew?
How about this, did you ever start something that sounded simple, quick, and easy, only to be suddenly on a rollercoaster ride to outer space?

That's what has happened to me over the last few days. So I am late in getting our results posted, and I am still working on getting our next project organized well enough in my own mind to present it here.

I love and appreciate all of you.

It may be another couple of days before I have the other stuff in my life under control, my "mouthful" either chewed or spit out, and am back on the "road to reason".

Some Prosperity Quotes

Money is congealed energy, and releasing it releases life’s possibilities.
-Joseph Campbell-

Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into.
-Wayne Dyer-

We shall serve for the joy of serving. Prosperity shall flow to us and through us in unending streams of plenty.
-Charles Fillmore-

Prosperity is not just having things. It is the consciousness that attracts the things. Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just having money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things.
-Eric Butterworth-

A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart.
-Jonathan Swift-

Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.
-Satchel Paige-

Not what we have but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.
-John Petit-Senn-

Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.
-Donald Trump-

He who is plenteously provided for from within, needs but little from without.
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe-

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.
-Norman Vincent Peale-

Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.
-Mae West

Gratitude - Our 30 Day Project

Here is an overview of our 30 Day Gratitude Project. This post provides links to pertinent aspects of this project, so that you won't have to sift through the archives.

To find out more about this project, you can take a look at why we thought Gratitude would be a good idea. You might also want to take a look at The World Map of Happiness, and see what our personal goals were.

If you would like to try this project for yourself, you could start on Day One and then continue on through Day Thirty posting your thoughts, ideas, results, joys and disappointments as you go. Or, you could browse through the posts and work the project in no particular order.

This is an active blog, and if you post, we will notice and reply.. and give you the benefit of our own experience and our support if it seems pertinent or appropriate. You can find complete listing of the day by day links at the bottom of this post.

The basic summary of our results can be found here: Gratitude, how did we do?, and individual comments and feedback can be read here.

We do have a recommended reading list if you are interested in expanding your understanding. I don't know how up to date it is, but there are a lot of really good books listed. There is also a collection of our favorite affirmations, prayers, poems, and etc. Or you can just go to Way Cool Quotes and find a bunch more.

As promised, here is the complete listing of the daily posts for the 30 day Mastermind:

Day One: Thank You!
Day Two: Hurray!
Day Three: Still smiling.
Day Four: Thanks for..."
Day Five: Let me count the ways!
Day Six: What's growing?
Day Seven: I'm so glad!
Day Eight: Smile
Day Nine: Good Things
Day Ten: Thank you to everything!
Day Eleven: Lucky Me!
Day Twelve: Free!
Day Thirteen: A Thank You Note
Day Fourteen: No Matter What
Day Fifteen: Three Wishes
Day Sixteen: Me Time
Day Seventeen: Today is great!
Day Eighteen: Thank you twice!
Day Nineteen: Thanks for what?
Day Twenty: Feel Joy Rising
Day Twenty-One: Thanks, but no thanks.
Day Twenty-Two: More
Day Twenty-Three: Saying Grace
Day Twenty-Four: Riches
Day Twenty-Five: I'm Good!
Day Twenty-Six: Little Things
Day Twenty-Seven: Problems
Day Twenty-Eight: Nevertheless
Day Twenty-Nine: What's so funny?
Day Thirty: Life is good!

Gratitude, how did we do?

I have tabulated our results, and here are our "stats" on Gratitude:

More money? Only one person could say yes here. So, no, if money = prosperity, then we can say for sure that practicing gratitude for 30 days does not necessarily bring prosperity.

More peace, joy, happiness? Every one of us said "yes" here. I think we can say absolutely that the practice of gratitude really does generate feelings of happiness and peace.

Recommend to others? Again, "yes," most of us would recommend this practice to others. We enjoyed it that much.

Will we continue to use gratitude? The answer here too is a unanimous "yes", we all do plan to continue to use gratitude as a daily practice.

Our favorite parts of the project? We all enjoyed the interactivity of the posts, and the various questions. Shirley especially enjoyed the "being grateful for what is NOT happening", she and Michelle are currently planning two gratitude journals; one will have a variety of questions - much like our 30 day project, and the other will be a quirky funny journal about being happy for the ridiculous and outrageous things that we can be grateful are NOT happening to us.

Today's two cents

Over the next couple of days, I will be working behind the scenes to wrap this project up, and also, hopefully, to wrap up some of our previous projects that I have left incomplete.



It has been suggested that for our next project we do a "Master Mind", and I think that with some thought and some modifications, we can make something like this work for us. In the next couple of days, I will be posting about that.


Today, though, it's time to put our two cents in as to how the gratitude project worked in our lives by answering the questions in yesterday's post.

Gratitude, does it work?

Now comes the time to record our experiences and our perceptions of our most recent project.

• How often did you participate?
• Gratitude, does it "work" for you?
• Are you more prosperous?
• Are you happier? wiser? healthier? more at peace?
• What was your favorite part of the project?
• Would you recommend it to others?
• Are you going to continue to use it as a daily practice?
• Is there anything else you want to say about it?

Life is good

And so,

Life is good because?

What's so funny?

Today I can laugh about ____________.

Nevertheless

Nevertheless, I do have _____________,
and that's really great because ____________!

So thank you!

Problems

Sometimes we have this idea that we can only be thankful for the "good" things in life. However, it is often the difficulties and the "problems" that ultimately bring us what it is that we most want and need.

So, I thought that today it might be interesting to try this out:

I have this problem: _____________,
and it benefits me because: ___________.

The little things

Today, let's be thankful for the little things.

What is the cream in your coffee?

The icing on your cake?

I'm good!

At least I am really good at __________.

Riches

Today I am rich in ______________.

Saying grace!

Over at the Daily Om, I found an article about Food that I found interesting, and appropriate for our current project.

Food is a gift; it is life offered for the life of another, yet many people rush into eating without considering the sacrifice or the result. A Zen mealtime prayer states, "We must think deeply about the ways and means of this food that has come to us."

It is easy to overlook the energy and life that went into the creation of a meal, and just as easy to take a moment to utter an affirmation, a prayer of thanks, or a blessing. A simple blessing spoken before a meal has the power to deepen your connection with the earth, the sun, nature, and humankind, while charging your food with positive energy, increasing its life force.

As is our food, so are we constructs of matter and energy. Everything you take into your body has the power to influence your well-being and to affect your soul. Blessing and giving thanks for what you eat can not only energize food, but also promote spiritual growth from within. As your body experiences physical nourishment, your soul will be drawn closer to the vitality-giving elements and experience the joy of being a part of the amazing circle of life.

For more information
visit Hinduism Today.

More

One thing is for sure,

I always have more than enough ______________!

So, thank you!

Thanks but no thanks!

Sometimes it's helpful to say thank you for what's NOT in your life.

How many can you list?

Feel Joy Rising

This is one of the weekly meditations that come to me via email. It's from Pragito, and I thought it would be good for this project.



Description:
Suddenly you see a friend you have not seen for many days and you feel joy arising in your heart. But your attention is on your friend, not on your joy. Then you are missing something and the joy is momentary.

When you see a friend and suddenly feel a joy arising in your heart, concentrate on this joy. Feel it and become it, and meet the friend while being aware and filled with your joy. Let the friend be on the periphery, and remain centered in your feeling of happiness.

When and Where:
You can try this technique in many situations. For example, the sun is rising, or you suddenly see your pet, or any external situation that brings a feeling of joy arising in your heart.... be centered in your own feeling of joy. Instead of being
object-centered, become self-centered.

Whenever there is joy, you feel it is coming from without. That is not the actual case. The joy is always within you. The friend/the external situation has just become a situation to trigger the joy within you.

Benefits:
Whenever this happens remain centered in the inner feeling, and then you will have a different attitude about everything in life. You become the emotion of joy itself, and there will be a great change in you.The joy spreads through your whole being and your awareness deepens it.

Thanks for what???

This is certainly an unusual thank you!

I don't think it's sincere, but it got me to wondering how many unusual things we can find to say thank you to today.

Thank you twice.

Two things I can say "thank you" for are:

Today is great!

Today is a great day because ____________!

Me time

I am so glad that today I can take the time to ____________.

Three wishes

These three wishes did come true:

1. _____________
2. _____________
3. _____________

Wow! Thanks!

No matter what

No matter what, I can always enjoy __________.

Thank you note

When was the last time you said thank you to yourself?
What if you wrote a note, and did just that?
What would it say?

Dear Me,

Thank you so much for ______________.
I really appreciate ______________.
And I just wanted you to know that _______________!

Love,
Me

Free!

I am thankful
that today I am free to

_________________.

Lucky me

Today I am lucky because _________________.

Thank you to everything

The other day I did an interesting thing that had a profound effect on my day. I thought I would share it here so you guys could try it. This is what I did, I said "thank you" to everything.

I said "thank you" to my feet for walking, to my shoes for fitting, to the door for opening, to the toilet for flushing, for the toaster for toasting, to the butter for spreading.... When someone said "hello" to me, I said "thank you for saying hello to me"... It was a lot of fun. I think we should try it today.

So here's our project question: how many times in one day can you say "thank you"? And what was the end result?

Good things!

It's a really good thing that __________________.