A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.  ~Paul Dudley White

This morning, I am grateful for walks.  Last night was a beautiful night here in Las Vegas, the temperature was just right for a comfortable stroll around downtown.

I went to visit the girls, and took them out to our favorite burger place.  It was reminiscent of our family dinners when we all lived together, where every night we talked about our days around the dinner table.  I always felt it was important that as a family, every night we sat down together and ate dinner, and just enjoyed each other’s company.  It is in my opinion, the best way parents, or parental figures, can keep their fingers on the pulse of their family, and monitor its health.

Last night we picked up right where we left off.  There was definitely a lot of laughter as we talked about school, work, friends, pets, when all of a sudden we realized it was getting pretty late, so I sent them off with a big hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

After seeing them off I phoned Jim who, along with his wife Mylene, just arrived back in town from Los Angeles.  We all decided to meet downtown at Binion’s just to visit.  Jim wanted to go for a walk, but I balked at the idea, because I was wearing what I considered to be heavy footwear.  So we just planned on maybe talking over some coffee.

The conversation was great, we all just sat around and talked about family, life among other things, and then Jim and I decided to put in a small walk while Mylene played a little poker.

He and I headed out to Fremont Street, and like old times, we just started walking and talking, and before we knew it, Jim and I must have walked two miles.  Fremont Street is actually a great place to go walking when its not so busy.  There’s definitely a lot to look at, with all of the old Neon signs, and the local residents do add a bit of color.

The walk was fantastic, not only was it invigorating, it was enlightening.  Jim and I picked up where our conversation left off in the coffee shop, and carried it on down the street.  When I quit poker, Jim kidding or not, had expressed concerns that we wouldn’t have much left to talk about.  Initially, it seemed that way, only because poker was the 300 pound gorilla in the room, that we seemed to spend our time avoiding talking about.  But before we parted ways, Jim said, “I think our conversations are much better.”   I would have to agree.  As friends we always had plenty to talk about, but now that our friendship doesn’t revolve around just that one topic, poker, we get to explore the many levels of our personalities, and lives.

I love the direction our group of friends are heading in.  I love that everyone is exploring their spiritual selves.  I love that the conversations we all have no longer just scratch the surface with typical chatter, just to create noise, so there is no “uncomfortable” silence.  I love that we all now explore, and probe a little deeper and are getting to know each other’s true selves.

Jim and I plan on taking another walk tonight, where our path will lead, where will our thoughts take us, I don’t know.  But I am grateful that I will another opportunity just to hang out with a great friend.

I am grateful for so many things, I truly am a wealthy man, It is incredible how blessed my life is, and I am grateful that there is more on the way.

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When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me. — Erma Bombeck

I am grateful for my talents.

Not only am I grateful for my talents, I am grateful that I can even recognize them.  A lot of people walk through life not really knowing what their purpose is, no real passion to even find out, no desire.  I find that to be a sad existence.

It is actually quite simple to figure it out, what is it that gets your tail wagging?  Take hunting dog for example.  I don’t know if you have ever been hunting with dogs who are bred for this very purpose, but when you pull the pick up to the back yard, drop the gate, and they see that, they go nuts.  They start jumping around, barking, and their tails are wagging a million miles an hour.  Why?  Because these dogs know exactly what their talents are, what their passions are.  No one had to tell them their purpose in life, they were born instinctively knowing this, and when they get to live it, nothing makes them happier.

So what makes your tail wag?  For me its comedy and business.  I have always loved making people laugh, and I have always loved the idea of owning my own business but have only been moderately successful in both.  However I am learning, and one thing I am learning is that anytime I ever had my own business, the one key element to success that I forgot, was that my most important product was me.

It is not that I didn’t sell customers on the idea that I was trustworthy, or didn’t offer them a great product.  But what I am learning is people are not loyal to products, they are loyal to people.  Your customers at some point need to stop being customers, and become “partners.”

I think my talents can make me excel in business, my ability to make people laugh, and feel comfortable is not only a door opener, but what can and will close the sale.  The simple fact is, and I don’t want to sound narcissistic, is that people like me.  I have said this in the past about my comedy, that if I could just put the real me on stage, I would be unstoppable.  I am now realizing this can be true too, in business, and I plan on experimenting with that.

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Take your life in your own hands, and what happens? A terrible thing: no one to blame. ~Erica Jong

I am grateful for personal responsibility.

As I walk through life now, realizing that I am the creator of my own reality, that I manifest my own destiny, I as a human being, feel much more control over my life.  That is not to say that I never hit bumps in the road, that no one for a lack of a better word never pisses me off, however, I now realize I get to choose how those things affect me.

Did I have a rough childhood?  Yes.  Have I had some tough breaks in the past?  Yes.  Boo hoo.  S0, who cares?  I shouldn’t, and you definitely shouldn’t.  We could hold a contest to see who has had it much worse, and guess what?  You won’t win, and neither will I, because there will always be someone who has a much worse life than yours.  But I have three little words for you, however they could be big  if you just take them to heart… GET OVER IT.

The past does not define who you are right now.  You do.  Learn from the past, live here right now, and fix the present and accept that only you are responsible for where you are now, and where you are going, and once again the future will take care of itself.

If you choose to live in a world of blame, blaming others, blaming circumstances, blaming God for whatever situation you are in now, then you miss out on a wonderful opportunity to take control of your own life’s path, and find true abundance.  While others are growing, you will be left behind in Spiritual kindergarten, with your angry crayons, drawing angry pictures.

The Law of Attraction matches your thoughts, it matches your vibrational energy.  So if your thoughts are about how hard life is, or on blame, or failures, then the Universe will give you more of that.   So, you even have to take personal responsibility over your thoughts, and the words you use.

I am still working hard on changing the way my mind thinks.  Going from simple little phrases like, “Don’t worry, I will survive.”  To, “I will overcome.”  There is a huge difference in mindset there.  Surviving is getting just enough of whatever it is to sustain life at its most base level.  Overcoming on the other hand is winning, it is beating whatever obstacle is in your way.  You don’t just get enough, you get more, you get it all.

I am grateful for personal responsibility, taking control over my own life has enabled me to break the chains of guilt, and blame that have bound me for so long.

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photo credit: El Ojo Inoportuno

Every evening I turn my worries over to God.  He’s going to be up all night anyway.  ~Mary C. Crowley

I am grateful for God, the source, the universe, the entity that bestows its blessings upon me.

Each day when I awake, I am working on making it a habit that the first words out of my mouth are, “Thank you Lord, for giving me yet another day of opportunities.”  Then I verbally go through my gratitude list.  I don’t jump right in and ask for things, I give thanks for things I received first.  I also want to clarify something, when I say “things,” I’m not necessarily referring just to objects, I am speaking of any blessing that I should be grateful for.

I am the creator of my own universe, the creator of my own reality, I manifest my destiny, but, I work with God in order to accomplish these things.  Ask, believe, and receive, that is the process.  I create by asking, and then I believe, God gives, and then I receive.  Sometimes there is more action required than just asking, sometimes what I receive are ideas in order to make it happen.

Sometimes in life I have to let go of things, I just have to trust that they are being taken care of, you will hear some people say, “Just let go, and let God.”  Every day I fill out a list of things to do, I also have a to do list for God.  These are the things that I allow the Universe to take care of, these are the things where I accept that I have absolutely no control over.  This allows me, to work on the things I do have control over, and celebrate those successes, while not feeling like a failure, or feeling any sort of lacking because of things I cannot control.

The amazing thing is that as soon as you let go, you actually feel more powerful, it is because you now know the power of the Universe is behind you, it is on  your side.

I am grateful for God, for all that he’s blessed me with.  I am also grateful for the many blessings that are to come.

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photo credit: hawk91

You don’t choose your family.  They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.  ~Desmond Tutu

Today I am grateful for my niece Megan.

Megan is my oldest niece, she will be twenty-two this year.  I decided on a whim to stop by her place of work yesterday and take her out to lunch, that forty-five minutes was the cherry on top of my sun-DAY.

It reminded me of the times when the girls were younger, and I visited them at school to eat lunch with them, and their friends.  But Megan is much older now, and I am proud of the young lady she is, and wants to become.

I know she wants more out of life, and is looking for “answers,” but in the meantime she stands her ground, and is not letting the world get her down.  As her uncle, I have offered some direction, but that is all I can do.  Ultimately it is her choice to create her own reality, and I feel confident in her decisions.

It is hard to just let go of those that we love, especially if that means that those choices can lead to bad consequences.  But as the expression says, sometimes you just have to “let go, and let God,” and that is my intention.  The harder you try to hold onto something, the quicker it slips through your fingers, it is much like trying to grab Jello.

Ultimately Megan will be fine, she has a good head on her shoulders, and the fact that she is in the process of looking for those answers, tells me that she understands that there is an amazing universe out there just waiting for her to find them.

I am grateful for my Megan, and I thank God daily for giving our family such an amazing gift.

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