Get Healthier by expressing more appreciation and gratitude. Doctors orders.
www.grateful4.org
Gratitude
Intention
First
Things
The G.I.F.T. Today
Grateful: to be feeling less and less separation between me and everything that ever was and ever will be.
Intention-explore where manifestation superpowers are needed most
First-unplug fountains before leaving
Things-water for yoga
Morning Meditation from The GratiDude
Playgrounds and parks were a kid’s domain in the summertime during the 70s where I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
They were the place of competition, of congregation, of entertainment and even childcare in the summertime back when things were a lot more chill.
Back in the mid-70s parents could just drop their kids off at local parks and there would be teenage hippie kids hanging out at the picnic tables with arts and crafts and other supplies all applied by the city of Ann Arbor.
I would dip in and out of these spots when I would see them because they would often have really cool things going on like papier-mâché, Box Hockey, fingerpainting and making braids for bracelets and necklaces out of little colored plastic s trips, kinda like yarn for knitting, and that hobby/craft was a huge deal back in the 70s.
Obviously, because we were at the park, there would be sports going on if there were enough kids interested in that, and it was always a mix of ages, boys, and girls that were hanging out.
Moms and dads would be on their way to work, and they would just kick the kids out of the car while the car was still moving near the park, it could’ve been Burns Park West Park or the park I wrote about yesterday, Virginia Park. You couldn’t drive more than a mile and not hit a park loaded up with a bunch of kids crafting and screwing around to pass the time as latchkey kids in the summer in the 70s.
Was the supervision extremely strict?
Not at all
Were there problems because of this?
None that I remember.
You also had an expectation from your parents from the other kids and even from the teenagers getting paid not to be an asshole and screw up a situation that was cool.
I distinctly remember older kids and teenagers that would swing through friends of the counselors sometimes, and everybody was on the same page to have fun but did not cause any problems because this was a cool set up for everybody.
In life, it’s important that we don’t wait until things have passed for many years has gone by to recognize and appreciate the good things in life. Furthermore, when you are connected to your breath, and you were thinking about the things in your community that you appreciate it it’s important that you acknowledge those people that make those things possible and express that to them directly even if it pulls you a little bit out of your comfort zone
Yes, showing appreciation to others can improve your health in many ways, including:
Physical health
Gratitude can improve your physical health by:
Increasing activity in the hypothalamus, which controls bodily functions like eating, drinking, sleeping, and stress responses
Reducing signs of heart disease
Calming your nervous system, which can lower your blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing
Mental health
Gratitude can improve your mental health by:
Reducing stress
Improving your mood
Decreasing depression
Increasing self-esteem and confidence
Reducing the likelihood of developing post-traumatic stress disorder
Relationships
Gratitude can improve your relationships by:
Making you feel better about yourself
Increasing the likelihood that others will invest more in you
Releasing oxytocin, a hormone that helps connect people
Yesterday after yoga, I made a point of shining light and love on Cristina Ordonez aka “The Corporate Yogi”, a wonderful local Woman specializing in teaching General Badassery for the Mentally and Spiritually Constipated Corporate Types(my words, NOT Her’s!! real info here- https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristina-ordonez-acc-8b896825/ )
Cristina had just finished an EPIC class on Thanksgiving morning, PACKED house at my local studio downtown the Yoga Shack.
Her dialogue in her yoga classes is so sincere and genuine, so simultaneously intellectually clean and spiritually uplifting, that it is a joy and a lesson in communication every time I take a class from her.
Yesterday she was really pumping folks up in terms of everyone’s own unique specialness and to lean into the feeling that you are more than enough and that you are perfect exactly where you are.
About three times during class I wanted to respond to her and say, “so are YOU Cristina!”
But that would’ve interrupted the flow of the class, and there were like sixty people in this class yesterday so that would not have been cool to hijack the vibe.
Instead, I waited until everyone was filing out of the class afterwards, and I said to her in my typically loud obnoxious voice the following because it’s my favorite way to get people to feel great and to listen closely when I want to compliment them:
“ You know what I love the most about you, Cristina?”(she already starts blushing, her eyes dilate, and she says, no, what?.’
And I responded “ that whatever comes out of your mouth anytime you speak is always 100% sincere and straight from the heart. You are a Doctor of ‘keep it real’ and I love that!”
There were about six or maybe eight people that had filed out and more coming as I finished my statement and I wanted other people to hear me (looking a little bit like a jackass but doing what is important) giving love and acknowledgment to the people contributing value in our Town. Giving from the Heart to the Community is what Cristina is doing by teaching a public Yoga class when she could just Coach and have Private Clients all the time. She practices My favorite form of Leadership.
It could be my buddy up in Franklin, Tennessee, Steve Bledsoe, who is literally one of the kindest nicest people I’ve met in my three decades in the golf industry, and I love him and his family very much.
Steve has done a lot of things in his life and one of the things he’s doing now is operating a bakery right there on the main drag and Franklin and serving up all sorts of incredible delicious baked goods, breads, pastries, muffins you name it.
Because of his faith in God and his commitment to kindness everything that he bakes with that comes out of the oven there has an extra degree of tastiness and he is the type of person that you want to acknowledge in the community give love to and shine light on because we need more people Living and operating businesses in a grateful manner.
As many of us swing into a long weekend, let’s keep our eyes peeled for the people in our community and even in our neighborhood that might be doing the smallest of things…. perhaps sweeping their sidewalk every single morning just so the walkway is clear when you go for a walk.
Thanks Sweeping Dude!
When you stay connected to your breath you can more easily recognize the beauty and the miracles that are in front of you every single day and contribute to yourself your family and your community, you’re ever-expanding attitude of gratitude.
Every day is Thanksgiving at www.grateful4.org
EVERY DAY:
Love
and
Gratitude
https://www.instagram.com/GratiDude_abides
KevinACarpenter@gmail.com/941.894.8030
Thank you sincerely.
IN LIFE AND GOLF, GET BETTER…..NOW!
HERE: https://grateful4.org
Every day, every way, grateful.
KC
I am here to help, add somebody that needs a “check up from the neck up”
KevinACarpenter@gmail.com
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