Today we celebrate Memorial Day in the United States. I find it intriguing that we have all these “days” and “weeks” and even “months” that memorialize or remember something. We have a “week for this” and a “week for that” or a “month for a disease”.

In some respects that’s good but in other ways we end up paying too much attention to the thing we’re trying to eradicate or “cure”. By focusing on something, we are sure to get more of it. Is that what we want? Do we want more colon cancer, more ALS, more diabetes, etc? I realize that this is blasphemy and I’m not advocating elimination of these events. However, if we could find a way to emphasize the positive, the health and well-being instead of the disease it would be so much more effective.

When we celebrate Memorial Day we do it well. We remember the lives of heroes and do profess that all those who have served in the military are heroes. This is a good thing. We want more heroes. We don’t bemoan how they died, what tragic circumstances they experienced, how bad they had it, etc. We talk about the good qualities of a hero, of a courageous person who so selflessly gave their all for their country. The more we focus on the courage and selflessness, the more we’ll draw that into our lives – either in ourselves or by drawing people into our life who have these characteristics.

Try this today for a change. Celebrate someone in your life who has exhibited tremendous courage in some way. Does someone you know have to work two jobs (or more?) and takes care of their family at the same time? Is someone striving courageously to combat a disease and the medicine to treat that disease? It doesn’t have to be something big even. For example, I saw multiple examples of selflessness and courage during my recent 3 day run. “Oh that’s too trivial and not important in real life” you may be thinking. But, that’s not true. The persistence, love for others and dedication that you see as they are running day and night for 3 days is simply a snapshot of what their entire life is like. So what you see on a run, is most likely what you get every single day. Celebrate and honor these folks today.

• Make a list of people that are influential in your life somehow. This could be your boss, your coworkers, friends, family, others with whom you associate.
• Write down the characteristics you see that you really respect. Consider even those you wish you had more of.
• Take a few minutes to sit quietly and send them positive love and energy to help them in whatever way they might need. Even if you don’t think they need anything specific, everyone can always use an energy boost.
• Focus on their qualities. Run a movie in your mind about what you’ve seen and what you love about them.
• Thank the Universe for bringing these people into your life because your life will never be the same again.

Now enjoy the BBQ!

Take a moment to tell us what you’ve learned doing this simple exercise.

Terrie