The Thin&Healthy Blog

Gratitude 10

Here are some stats I want to share about worry:
40% of what we worry about is never going to take place
30% of what we worry about already took place
12% of what we worry about is related to our health issue that we are going to basically bring about or not bring about because we are worried about it or not worried about it
10% of what we worry about is somebody else thinks of us
8% of what we worry about is valid.

So, when you catch yourself worrying, stop and go to these percentages, because if it fits into the category of the 40%, the 30%, the 12% or the 10%, then let it go because you can’t do anything about it.

Now what do we do about the 8%? With the 8%, you sit down and you do this. First, there are simply two things you need to do, and I am challenge you to do it every day for the rest of your lives. I call it the Gratitude 10. Now, it could be called a Gratitude list. The reason I call it a Gratitude 10 is because I will give 10 minutes, a minimum of 10 minutes each morning to writing out what I am grateful for. You don’t get to think it. I was telling Marcia about it, and she said, well I kind of do it every morning, and I had her start writing it totally different, totally different, it is not the same thinking it as it is writing it down. You will start your day completely differently.

You see, we forget. I get emotional when I tell you this, my mom is 88 years old and her health is failing, and I was talking to my sister-in-law, who is just one of my best friends on the planet, and I was very emotional about it because I have gone through a weekend, I won’t give you the whole story, but I was very emotional about the fact that my mom is 88 and her health is failing, and I said to Barb, “I am losing my mom.” And she was totally quiet, totally quiet and then she said, “Donna, she is still here, you can still look in her eyes, you can still hold her hand and you can still hear her talk.” I had my head so in the place of losing her that I forgot to be grateful that she is still here. So don’t forget to be grateful about waking up in the morning and being able to take a deep breath. There is someone else who found out that they have cancer yesterday, they are not taking the same deep breath that you are taking. Don’t forget to be grateful about the children in your life – your children, your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, when they run and they are so glad to see you and they throw their arms around you, don’t forget to be grateful for that. Don’t forget to be grateful that you can walk across the room. Don’t forget to be grateful that you can exercise. Don’t forget to be grateful that there is food in your belly when you are hungry.

Right now please take your pen to begin your gratitude 10. Here’s how I do it, I think about when I open my eyes in the morning, what is the first thing I could be grateful for and the next thing that happens in my day and the next thing. And I have to tell you, you could take a day doing this once you get going. All I am challenging you to do is 10 minutes each morning, the very first thing if possible that you do. From the moment you open your eyes this morning or a memory from yesterday, start writing every little detail but don’t write just the big things but write every little thing.

Don’t make it harder than it is, you know it doesn’t have to be, you got in your car and you found a $1000 sitting on the seat, although that would be something that you would be grateful for. A lot of people in our nation right now don’t have work. Do you have work? A lot of people on the planet are hungry. Are you hungry? A lot of people have no place to live. Do you have a place to rest your head? Don’t forget the important things. When you really start doing this and you set out no less than 10 minutes each morning, you will find yourself just so continuing to write that you don’t want to stop. It is a pretty incredible experience.

Anxiety, worry, fear, and depression can’t live in a grateful heart. You may have heard me say, ‘faith and fear can’t live in the same house, when one comes in the front door, the other one has to go through the back door’, anxiety, depression, fear and worry can’t live in a grateful heart. But I really believe that we all, including myself, we all have forgotten gratitude. I got so caught up in the junk that was happening in my life, far beyond just the situation that I shared with you about my mom, I got so caught up in that junk that I realized that I had forgotten gratitude. I think maybe some of us may have forgotten gratitude or where am I in my life. Where can I go, where can I go with my dreams? I know if we remember gratitude things are going to change. So, the first things are anxiety, worry, fear, depression.

Here is the second thing, once you have done your gratitude list, now you need to look at that 8%. Remember I said 8%, okay that is valid, you can worry about that 8%, you need to look at the 8% and see it as it really is, not worse than it is, because that is the other thing that we do. We look at the things we are worried about, we imagine them so big and so bad, that we think we can’t get past them. So, you have got to look at whatever is in that 8%, you have got to see it as it is really is. Keywords are – not worse than it is. Again, men have it over women on this because they are logical. They see things as they are. Women we are flowery, we are emotional and we tend to make things bigger than they are. We are more dramatic. See things as they really are but don’t see things as worse than they are.

Now see things as they can be. And what do you need to do to make that happen? See things as they can be and what do you need to do to make that happen? Who do you need to get involved? What steps do you need to take? You will deductively reason yourself into what do I do about this worry? But you have got to see it as it really is, not worse than it is, then you have got to think about how can it be and how do I get it to that place. And you will deductively reason your way out of the 8% of worry providing you have got the gratitude thing going on. If you have still got the worry, fear, anxiety, depression thing going on, it is very possible you have forgotten gratitude. I have found out that I have forgotten gratitude.