You know, it’s amazing how your perspective changes – sometimes by the year and sometimes by the minute. I was a pretty happy camper yesterday because Jackie ate well and seemed to be doing fine even when I came home from work. But then after dinner she started having intestinal problems again – to the degree she’d had them a few weeks ago. In ONE minute, my entire mood and perspective changed.

But this time it was different than it was that first time. I mentioned Steve Sisgold in another post and he has to come up in this one too. When he was helping me through all this with Jackie he asked what had I gotten out of this and what gifts had I received. I was taken aback.  I thought ” how the heck could you possibly think of gifts at a time like this?”. But, since I know Steve is a very, very smart man, I didn’t say it. I let him go on when he realized I wasn’t sure what was going on.

  He told me that this would be a pretty rotten experience if I didn’t look at it and be thankful for the gifts that I had gotten – not only from life but from Jackie as well.  I did that. And this time, I just “felt” them instead of making a list of those gifts. Many of them you can’t list.

So, last night instead of decompensating like I did before, I thanked God for all the blessings I’ve received from Jackie in her 12 years (I’ve had her 10) and for all the blessings I’ve received not only from her but from my friends – friends like Heather Bestel who has a new product release (Magical Meditations 4 Kids) that I’m sure you’ll want to take a look at and I’m going to be writing about soon. She is so busy with her launch of this long awaited wonderful product BUT she took the time to reach out to me and support me through this entire event. Then there’s Steve Sisgold as I mentioned. There’s Susie, Joyce and so many other friends and colleagues at work that I’m overwhelmed by the love and caring they’ve all shown. They know that Jackie is really all I have left.

Take some time to look at all the gifts in your life – do it daily. When things seem to be going wrong even if it’s just a disagreement or perhaps a not-so-good encounter on the phone, stop for a few seconds and either go over in your mind or even just jot down FIVE gifts you’ve received – it doesn’t matter when you received them, just remember them and be thankful for them. Yes, this is like gratitude and there’s nothing wrong with it being like gratitude. But it’s more than that too.

Don’t wait to have to be hit over the head with a sledgehammer. Do it NOW.

Til we talk again later – please keep us in your thoughts and prayers

Terrie

You know – I realized that the perfect follow-on to my doggie saga would be a discussion about Gratitude and David Wilson’s comment below made me realize that I should have included it in my writing about Jackie. Gratitude is so important. Another one of my friends, Steve Sisgold, mentioned that I should be living in gratitude for Jackie, not just focusing on what my other vet advised (Steve was so good to me on Tuesday, letting me just cry). And I realized that I have a website in memory of Crystal and that I could just as easily create a blog to honor Jackie but not wait until she’s gone. And I will do that this weekend. I know it will be filled with the humor of Julia Child Wurzbacher who had to call her friends to learn how to boil potatoes – oh well….

But Gratitude is such an important part of success in life and since your relationships are part of life, the gratitude is vital there too.

Take a minute and ask yourself how you express your gratitude. That will force you to determine if you even feel gratitude and if you don’t, then that’s the starting place for you.

I have had many people reach out to me in the past two days because of this event. I was so touched. The folks at work are all dog lovers and they have reached out and allowed me to have a day and a half off. I needed to be with her (I spent most of yesterday either cooking and swearing as the water boiled over or trying to soothe her pain) and they allowed me that freedom. The people at both vets have been wonderfully supportive.

And most of all, I feel gratitude because of the fact that although Jackie is in pain and still has a long way to go until we control this (I’m thinking positively), I still have her. There are dogs at the specialty vet I go to that don’t have that hope and I watch the owners sit with them as the tears fall down their cheeks. I feel so much for these owners and wish I could do something to ease their pain or that of the dogs. I am grateful for what I have  and have had with Jackie. It’s hard to be grateful when she’s in pain but it’s the most important thing I can do.

You have to concentrate on gratitude every single day of your life.

  This is one of the reasons I created the Gratitude Journal for everyone. It’s up on the web and it’s free to download (it works on PCs only and at least works on Vista – not sure about  Windows 7 – would be glad for any feed back). Go try it out. It’s a daily journal and has a sticky for you to leave on your desktop and quickly jot down things as you think of them. Those items of gratitude are immediately transferred into your journal.

Have you hugged your Gratitude Journal yet today…Tell people you love them, tell them thanks, whatever you do, make sure you show your gratitude.

Thanks to all of you for your support and to David and Steve for bringing the Gratitude part home to me this week.

Terrie

I have to write this because I’ve had such a great last two days (Thursday and Friday) – when I was in the DC area I was actively involved in supporting St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They had annual radiothons for fundraising. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in San Antonio (the 8th biggest city in the US at that time) and there were no radiothons..horrors. I missed being “involved.
Well, imagine my surprise again the other day when I was in the shower and heard the country radio station that I listen to announce that their radiothon was going to begin in a half hour. I was ecstatic. So, while at work I listened to the entire two days of the radiothon and felt alive again. I was able to give alot and support alot. San Antonio raised over $300, 000 in our very first radiothon AND we had over 1000 partners-in-hope sign up as well. How cool is that.
So, what about the title of the post. Could I consider the money I donated a tithe? No, I can’t. That was seed money. A tithe is given to the source of my spiritual support. Even though I feel terrific after donating to St Jude, the hospital is NOT the source of my spiritual support/supply. So, therefore it is not a tithe.
Seed money is what you give to the universe (in this case via an organization that does so much good for parents and children when a child has been stricken with a catastrophic illness). It is placed out there and will come back to you often in the form of divine surprises. But with that money you’re planting the seed of good and as we know, that good will return multiplied and running over.
You MUST tithe or your spiritual supply will dry up. That’s a fact. In fact you MUST tithe and you MUST express gratitude in order for your prosperity faucet to pour forth!
I’m still ecstatic….
Terrie

I have to write this because I’ve had such a great last two days (Thursday and Friday) – when I was in the DC area I was actively involved in supporting St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They had annual radiothons for fundraising. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in San Antonio (the 8th biggest city in the US at that time) and there were no radiothons..horrors. I missed being “involved.
Well, imagine my surprise again the other day when I was in the shower and heard the country radio station that I listen to announce that their radiothon was going to begin in a half hour. I was ecstatic. So, while at work I listened to the entire two days of the radiothon and felt alive again. I was able to give alot and support alot. San Antonio raised over $300, 000 in our very first radiothon AND we had over 1000 partners-in-hope sign up as well. How cool is that.
So, what about the title of the post. Could I consider the money I donated a tithe? No, I can’t. That was seed money. A tithe is given to the source of my spiritual support. Even though I feel terrific after donating to St Jude, the hospital is NOT the source of my spiritual support/supply. So, therefore it is not a tithe.
Seed money is what you give to the universe (in this case via an organization that does so much good for parents and children when a child has been stricken with a catastrophic illness). It is placed out there and will come back to you often in the form of divine surprises. But with that money you’re planting the seed of good and as we know, that good will return multiplied and running over.
You MUST tithe or your spiritual supply will dry up. That’s a fact. In fact you MUST tithe and you MUST express gratitude in order for your prosperity faucet to pour forth!
I’m still ecstatic….
Terrie