. “Life tastes better after a slice of cheesecake!”
-Jason Shaw

In October of 2019 I stepped off the bathroom scale and acknowledged that I had gained back all the weight I lost the year before. It was a depressing realization. What was the point of going to the considerable effort of losing weight if I was just going to gain it back?

I thought about how good I felt in my clothes the year that I lost weight, compared with how dowdy I felt after the weight gain, and vowed to do it differently. I would find a way to lose the weight and not gain it back.

Enter the Weight Watcher’s app for my smartphone.

It is now six months and sixteen pounds later and I have reached my goal weight. What’s more Peter has lost almost forty pounds. The Weight Watcher’s combination of tracking food eaten by assigning point values to foods, along with lots of free zero-point foods, really works for us.

Still, it wasn’t easy getting my inner child on board.

This is how the conversation went between me and my inner child.

Me, “We’re going on a diet. We’re going to lose weight and keep it off.”

Inner Child, looking a little pudgy, pushes out her lower lip, plants her hands on her hips and stomps her foot. “We are not! No way! I’m not going to starve again.” She pulls a protest sign out from behind her back and holds it up. It shows the word DIET written in large, childish block letters, with a bright red X scrawled over it. She marches around the room chanting, “No more deprivation! No more deprivation!”

Me, admiring her vocabulary and wheedling, “You can have dessert.”

Inner Child, stops marching and looks back at me over her shoulder, “I can?”

Me – “Yup, you can even have cheesecake.”

Inner Child – “Can I have cheesecake for breakfast?”

You see what I have to deal with here.

Eventually, with Inner Child on board and the Weight Watchers app on my phone and firmly in hand, we did it. We even got Peter signed up. The rest is history.

Now, on to the cheesecake. Ok, it’s not technically cheese – cake. It is made with yogurt, fat free Greek yogurt, to be precise. The taste is lighter than traditional cheese cake made with cream cheese because there isn’t the usual fat. But the texture is spot on, and it is delicious.

Fat free Greek yogurt has become one of my go to foods. It is free on Weight Watcher’s, meaning it doesn’t cost me any points. Eggs, another main ingredient in this recipe, are also free.

Then there is Lakanto Monk Fruit/Erythritol sugar substitute, also zero points. It is by far the best-tasting of the sugar substitutes out there, with little to no aftertaste. What’s more it is the only one (and I’ve tried most of them over the years) that doesn’t give me intestinal discomfort or heart burn.

(BTW, I’m not affiliated with Lakanto, they just make an excellent product. I’m not affiliated with Weight Watcher’s either, but I really like their system and the app.)

There is a lot of controversy about sugar substitutes, and for good reason.

Sugar free pudding mixes are not what I would call a healthy food and I wouldn’t recommend regular consumption. I wish they would come out with one that is made with erythritol as the sweetener. **

Studies have shown that erythritol is not detrimental to long-term health. What’s more, some studies have shown that it acts as an antioxidant in the body and may even improve blood vessel function.

Back to cheesecake.

The combination of fat-free Greek yogurt, eggs, pudding mix, sweetener and flavoring, with the addition of heat from the oven, bakes up into a wonderfully light tasting, smooth and creamy rendition of cheesecake. Top it with a small amount of light whipped cream and some berries and you have a delicious dessert that your Inner Child will love.

You might even allow her to have it for a special breakfast. There are eggs in there after all.
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*For more information on the Weight Watcher’s app go to https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/how-it-works/ww-app
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**I usually make my own instant pudding mix. I substitute  Lakanto Monkfruit/Erythritol sugar 1:1 for the sugar in the recipe.  You'll find the recipe at https://www.foodiewithfamily.com/homemade-no-cook-instant-pudding-mix-make-ahead-mondays/

 “To be creative means to be in love with life.”
 ~Osho
​
We all create, and the taste of creativity is sweet and deeply satisfying.

It might be a craft project, a piece of writing, a painting, music, a recipe, a new organization system for that messy bookcase, or any project in which you are fully immersed in what you are doing while you are doing it.

You might be so involved that you don’t notice the passage of time and look up to discover that an hour or two has passed without your awareness. You are in the flow and it feels great. That’s the creative process.

Did you know that you are channeling Source energy when you do this?

In the process of creating you are bringing the creative energy of Source through you and into whatever project you are working on. You are loving your creation into being.

The process of creating can be like eating the most delicious dessert imaginable.

Afterward, each time you think about, look at or utilize your creation you can re-experience that sweet delight because creativity is love expressed and expressing. The love continues to express and is shared with others through the energy you imbued into your creation.

“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.”
 ~Albert Einstein

When I love the process of cooking, taking my time and enjoying the chopping, the measuring, the stirring and mixing, usually the resulting meal is eaten with appreciation. Everybody seems to enjoys it more, even our pickiest grandchild will at least try what is on the plate. I believe that what they respond to without even realizing it, is the love that went into the creation.

There is a marvelous movie, Chocolat. It tells the fictional story of a woman who opens a small Chocolaterie in a  French village. She creates her chocolates lovingly, passionately, and the lives of the townspeople who eat them are affected in fascinating ways through the energy she imbues into her chocolate creations. 

“I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.”
-Julia Child

Then, there are those special cooking shows that are all about love - love of cooking, love of food, love of family and friends. The chefs actively appreciate and savor the ingredients, smelling them, admiring their texture, color and freshness. They love their dishes into being as they create them. Then they share that love with family, friends and community. I find them a delight to watch because the love is palpable.

Creating in this way isn't just about cooking. We can all create with this sweet focus and love, imbuing whatever we create with the energy of Source.  It doesn’t matter what it is that we are creating. It could be a dinner party for friends, or it could be a new morning routine. What matters is the energy and the love with which we create. 

“Why work today? I'll take Tuesday on, just like I took Monday off. That's just the kind of dedicated worker I am.”
― Will Advise, Nothing is here...

Ah, the guilty pleasure of a day off. This isn’t a Saturday or a Sunday or even a vacation day. It is a work day and I have taken the day off. It feels rather like playing hooky from school; a niggling finger of guilt tickles at my conscience, making this stolen day just that much sweeter. I feel a tingle of excitement. What wonders will this day hold, suddenly free and stretching enticingly before me?

I am reminded of a time in my twenties (I won’t tell you how very long ago that was ;) when my good friend and apartment mate, and I, worked together at an institution for the severely mentally disabled. In addition to their mental challenges the women we worked with had behavioral and physical disabilities which had developed over a lifetime of institutional living. I remember appreciating those few with whom I was able to converse, for most had no language, and resorted to screams, bites, hitting and slapping each other and us to convey their emotions. The women spent their lives together in large wards. It was our job, young, naïve and fresh out of college, to attempt to bring order into their lives and try to give them a semblance of safety and education. My friend and I came home each night from work to our shared apartment exhausted.

So, every once in a while, we would take the day off.

Getting up in the morning, ready to drag ourselves off to work, we’d look at each other and say, “Let’s take the day off!” We couldn’t do it very often; staff coverage had to be found so the women would be cared for. The scarcity made the stolen days that much more delicious. Suddenly, feeling like kids on a snowday from school, we were free.

We lounged about in our bathrobes, savoring our coffee, my friend puttering about in the kitchen, me sitting at the kitchen table, watching the birds out the window and writing in my journal. Then we would leisurely get ready and go clothes shopping.

Always, we went shopping, stopping for lunch at a sandwich spot along the way. I don’t know why shopping was such a treat. Perhaps it was the frivolity of unplanned spending when we should have been at work earning money. Perhaps it was the freedom of being able to wander about, responsible for no one but ourselves, having no schedule but that which our rumbling stomachs and tired feet set, as we looked at all the pretty things we might buy. Always it was the guilty pleasure of knowing we should have been at work but instead doing whatever we wanted.

Memories of those enticing days echo forward, and every once in a while, I remember that guilty pleasure and steal a day just for myself.

Today, when I should be working on several different writing projects and making calls, when I should be organizing and cleaning the house, today when I should be doing any number of other duties with which my life is filled, today I think, how about a day off? 

“The magic moment is the moment when
a “yes” or a “no” can change our whole existence.
Every day, we try to pretend that we do not see
that moment, that it does not exist,
that today is the same as yesterday
and that tomorrow will be the same too.
However, anyone who pays close attention to
his day will discover the magic moment.”
 
Paulo Coelho, from By the River Piedra, I Sat Down and Wept
 
It was just before dawn on a dark, November morning. So dark I had to turn on a light in the living room despite the fact that there were  large windows and skylights.

I heard the grandfather clock ticking the heartbeat of my home and plopping sounds, remnants of the night’s heavy rain as it dripped heavily off the eaves of the house. Trees, stoic and still, stood outside the windows, bare branches hung with droplets of water, bark wet-lined in shades of grey, deep brown and black. Solitary russet leaves hung listless and damp, lone survivors among the branches.

It is cozy to sit here, I thought, warm in my house on this dark and rainy morning. Gentle, grey light crept in the windows as my white-mittened grey cat stretched out warmly beside me on the couch.

Through the windows the grey gradually lightened until a startling burst of sunlight lined every wet trunk and branch with bright silver and turned each trembling droplet of rain into a sparkling diamond.

I could see a prism of colors in a single diamond drop, red, then orange, yellow and green. Even the air turned a delicate white as the sun reflected off the countless tiny droplets of water suspended in the mist.

I heard the, nasal, wheezing call of a nuthatch, a solitary voice,  plaintive, as if asking, “Is the rain over yet?”

The birdfeeder outside the window that had hung silent and empty moments before, was suddenly filled with fluttering, chattering, black-capped chickadees, sweet voiced, chipping, grey titmice, and white breasted nuthatches, all vying for the seeds filling the feeder.

A female cardinal, stunning in her feathered gown of red-tipped olive green and bright orange beak, cleared the feeder as she came in for her meal. The smaller birds respecting her right of place as royalty.

Like a princess, she delicately ate her fill, one seed at a time, regally turning this way and that with a flick of her tail. Then with a flutter of wings she vacated the feeder for the lilac tree nearby.

The feeder once again stood empty, the air quiet and clear now. The ground silently soaking up the gift of moisture. High above the treetops, clouds drifted apart, revealing a pale, blue sky.

​I became aware once again of the grandfather clock steadily beating its ticking heart.

It’s magic, I thought, it’s right here, all around me! It’s inside me, I feel so alive! Breathing deeply into the warm, expansive sensation inside, my heart filled with happiness. 

"Let's face it, a nice, creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me!"
-Audrey Hepburn

Last week there were six birthdays of various family members and friends, one of them my own. In celebration I want to share with you the recipe for my all-time favorite birthday cake.
 
I originally had this moist and delicious chocolate experience at my husband’s parent’s home, baked by Louise, my much loved and lamented mother-in law.
 
The derivation of the name of this cake comes from a wonderful story related to me by Charlie, my father-in-law.
 
Years ago, Charlie and Louise went to their favorite seafood restaurant to celebrate Louise’s 71st birthday. This restaurant offered $10 off the dinner of anyone celebrating their birthday, on the date, with proof of date of birth.
 
That same day another couple were celebrating a birthday. The husband was 92 years old that day.
 
Charlie and Louise, always friendly, struck up a conversation with the couple and wished the elderly gentlemen a very happy birthday.
 
Going to their own table, they enjoyed their meal. When it was time to pay the bill, Louise looked in her purse for her license to prove that it actually was the day of her birthday and receive their $10 off. No license. She had switched purses and left her license in her other purse.
 
Louise, with her usual aplomb, met the situation with self-deprecating humor. They paid the full bill and stopped to tell the elderly couple all about it on their way out.
 
The 89 year-old wife looked at Charlie and said, “Isn’t she worth the $10?”
 
Without hesitation Charlie answered, “I wouldn’t give you a dollar for another one, but I wouldn’t take a million for her!”

​What a guy!
 
This recipe is a ringer for that original chocolate masterpiece. It is adapted from the website Sweetapolita.

“The soul is like a wild animal—tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious wildness we seek.”

― Parker J. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life
 
Perhaps it is this that makes the sight of Nature’s wild one’s so special. Perhaps it is like getting a glimpse of our own Soul. Join me now, for a peek.
 
“Peter!” I said, in an urgent whisper. “Come see this!”
My husband, Peter, was in the kitchen and looked up quickly, knowing from the tone of my voice that it would be some kind of wildlife out in our back yard.

I sat at the dining table gazing out the window into the back yard, my breakfast sitting forgotten on the table before me.

Peter scanned the yard through the patio doors but could see nothing. I always got excited about what showed up out there, and we had seen some interesting animals and birds since we’d moved in. He stepped quietly around the L-shaped counter separating the kitchen and dining area and moved to where he could see what I pointed at. 

The early morning sun slanted across the warm brown back and head of a white tail deer as she bent to pluck the last of the green fall grasses. Her tail twitched back and forth, showing the white underfur for which her kind are named.

The doe lifted her head, beautiful, dark, liquid eyes alertly scanning the back of the house. Long, tufted ears pinpointed the source of the movement she must have heard.

She stared intently at Peter as he stood, now motionless before the window, studying him for any signs of danger.

Then she relaxed, ears and tail flicking about, and resumed her grazing.

Frequently she lifted her head and looked around the yard and back towards the woods, alert for anything that might be threatening. Then she continued, cautious and deliberate, tail and ears flicking, moving about the back yard searching out the grasses she liked best.

Peter backed off quietly and reached into the voluminous pocket of his fuzzy grey bathrobe for his phone.

He thumbed it on to camera so he could take a picture of me looking out the window as I studied the doe avidly. He managed to get both of us into the frame and took the picture.

Then he creeped closer to the window and got a good shot of the deer as she looked up at him.

We had seen deer in our yard before but never had one stayed so long as this. We had seen coyote crossing the yard as well, and turkey.

When we first moved in, a huge, black rat snake visited, as if welcoming us to the neighborhood. It waited, shining black scales covering its thick body, stretched out beneath the bird feeder. Perhaps it hoped for an unwary squirrel. We estimated that it was at least five or six feet long. I was thrilled.

I continued to study the deer as she made her way over to the shade garden under the big oak trees.

“Are you going to eat my Hosta now?” I asked her.

The doe moved about at the far edge of the garden not attempting the Hosta which grew on the side of the garden closest to the house. Then she turned and ambled off, moving into the woods at the back of the yard.

The last we saw of her were her long, graceful legs as she crossed a patch of sunlight between the trees, her upper body already hidden,  as she moved away deeper into the woods.

I looked over at Peter grinning, “I am so grateful we moved here.”
​
“Yup,” Peter agreed, smiling back at me.

Photo by Anthony Roberts on Unsplash
​

​“A state of appreciation is pure Connection to Source where there is no perception of lack.”
-Abraham-Hicks

Have you ever received a compliment from someone and deflected it? It might have sounded like this,

A co-worker says, “That was a great presentation!” You answer, “Thanks, but I totally messed up the last part.”

Just as it is possible to deflect a compliment so that you don’t receive the good feeling it might give you, it is possible to deflect the good feelings of an evening, a day, a month, or a lifetime thereby putting a limit on your happiness.

We do it out of habit, out of training from childhood, or maybe because we think we don’t deserve to feel so good.

We do this by focusing our attention on negative thoughts, thoughts of denial, thoughts of judgment towards ourselves or others, thoughts of criticism of self or others, thoughts of what went wrong, what should have happened, all the things that should have been different.

What we accomplish when we do this is to bring ourselves back to our habitual emotional set-point that feels more comfortable.

In his book, The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks describes this behavior as hitting our Upper Limit for feeling good. Check out my post, “Is Bliss Too Scary?” for more detail about Gay Hendrick’s Upper Limit Problem and an example of how I  hit my Upper Limit for feeling good just recently.

How is it possible that feeling negative, feeling bad about yourself or others or the situation you find yourself in, could be more comfortable than feeling good?

The answer is that comfort in this case is about a familiar and seemingly safe emotional set-point.

We are used to feeling a certain way. At some point in our past, we came to associate feeling like this with safety. This became our emotional set point, our comfort zone. So, we make sure to always return to this same emotional set-point.

If we get to feeling too good, we come up with worries, judgments, criticisms, fights, arguments, and negative events to bring us down emotionally and bring us back to our set-point, all so that we will feel safe. Seems contradictory doesn’t it?

Yet we do it.

What can we do to change this?

Awareness of our Upper Limit for happiness is the first step to change. Once we become aware that we are falling into the pattern of critical and judgmental thoughts, or irritable, argumentative behavior we can choose a different focus of thought. We can choose to focus on gratitude and appreciation.

We can remind ourselves of all that we are grateful for and appreciate in whatever situation we are in.

For example, you and your spouse or friend had a wonderful day out together yesterday. Today you find yourself getting irritable and argumentative with them. 

Why? You hit your Upper Limit for happiness.

Instead of allowing the negativity to escalate, stop. Catch yourself and refocus your thoughts on the good stuff.
​
Think of the enjoyment of your lunch out yesterday, the sweetness of your laughter together. Look out the window at the cloudless, blue sky and listen to the bird song drifting in through the window. Feel the goodness of your life as it is right now. Breathe in those feelings of appreciation.  
 
Regularly focusing your attention on gratitude and appreciation will reset your emotional set-point to that of positivity and feeling good, allowing happiness to be your default setting.

Appreciation is a tremendously effective tool for lifting your energy out of negativity into positivity and raising your happiness limit. Today's Spiritual Toolbox can show you how.

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” 
 - James Beard

Here’s the recipe I told you about in our first Savory ‘n Sweet blog posting. This is the ABSOLUTE BEST gluten-free multi-grain bread recipe I’ve tried, and believe me when I say I’ve tried a lot.

When I decided to give up wheat, I was able to find delicious alternatives for most of my favorite baked goods. Either I was able to buy something ready-made or more usually I was able to find recipes that I could bake myself.

The black hole in my culinary world was a gluten-free alternative to fragrant, dense and delicious home-made whole grain bread. I tried the breads available in whole foods markets. Without exception they tasted more like starchy cardboard than bread.

I felt like Julia Child when she said, “How can a nation be great if their bread tastes like kleenex?” 

I then tried countless recipes I found on-line. Some were passable, but tended to be more like white bread than whole grain. I was looking for a bread that had some nutritive value to it as well as wonderful heft and flavor.

After many discouraging attempts I happened upon treasure - a recipe for whole grain teff bread. I tried the recipe purely out of curiosity about teff flour (which by the way, is delicious) and was astounded. Here was the fragrant, deeply flavorful, moist, multi-grain bread I’d been searching for.  

OK now we were cooking!

Sadly, I’ve been unable to find that original recipe on-line so that I may give the author the thanks they are due. So, I’ll send my thanks on a prayer off into the ethers, with a blessing added in for many delightful baking experiences to come. Thank you whoever you are!

Now I had found my master recipe. Through additional experimentation I discovered that I could substitute any combination of whole grain, gluten-free flours that appealed to me and it still came out deliciously moist, fragrant and satisfying.

Here is the recipe I settled on as my favorite. This is the bread I bake every week. It is fragrant, flavorful, full of holes and heft. I use it for toast, for sandwiches, for croutons, for bread crumbs and for anything else I can think up. What's more, a warm, fragrant loaf of this bread is always a hit at pot-lucks.

Although this is a yeast-raised bread (with the attendant delicious fragrance and flavor) it is a snap to mix up. The dough is scooped directly into the bread pan for rising. No kneading necessary.

Not so long ago a wonderful friend gave me a bread pan worth its weight in gold. It is specifically intended for baking gluten free bread. It has ridged sides that support the sponge as it rises, and makes for a perfect rise without the concave center that so often happens in gluten-free baking. If you love to bake as I do, and love home-baked bread it would be a worthwhile purchase for you.

Here is a link to where you can purchase it.
​
A tip - as soon as you remove the bread from the oven, immediately flip it upside down onto a cooling rack, and cool for 30 minutes upside down. This will allow the bread to firm up before you remove it from the pan and prevent the top from caving in slightly. As you can see from the picture above I forgot to do this and the top is slightly concave!

Without further ado, here’s the recipe, along with several yummy variations. Wait till you see how flexible this recipe is! 

“Variety’s the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavour.”
-William Cowper

Living a full life is like eating a delicious meal of varied foods made up of many different colors, textures and flavors.

Imagine this, you have before you a meal with one kind of food. It is a food you like. It is filling and warm. But that’s it, nothing else.

Now imagine you have before you a meal made up of many foods you like. You see lots of different dishes, fresh green, enticing reds and pinks, comforting yellows and whites, delicious looking purples. There are crunchy foods and soft foods, warm and cool, salty and sweet, sour, and even bitter to set off the other flavors. All your favorites. Which meal would you rather eat?
 
If you’re like me you’ll go for the variety every time. So why do we tend to eat the same foods most of the time?

More importantly why do we do the same thing in our lives? Why do we fill up our days with just a few, familiar repeated activities, day after day?

We are busy, busy, busy, doing the same things over and over.

Perhaps it feels safer. We opt for the known rather than the unknown. We choose to do what we know we can do rather than trying something new.

What happens when we do try something new? It can be scary.

Recently I signed up to take a tap dance class. Something I’ve always wanted to do. Not surprisingly, I did my own emotional tap dance beforehand through all the what if’s my fear brought up.

What if I feel silly and awkward? Especially at first. Who hasn’t trying to learn something new?

What if I injure myself? I’m 64 years old and not in great shape.  Realistically, I might injure myself walking down my own familiar stairs. In fact, I have, more than once. I still go up and down stairs every day.

What if I feel shy meeting new people? Yup, probably will at first. After one lesson of stumbling around together, I probably won’t feel that shy anymore.

What if I don't want to give up the time?  Really, what would I be doing otherwise? Chances are it would be something that I do every day, not something new and energizing.

What about about spending the money on the class and dance attire?  I have to ask myself, “Is it a priority to energize my life?” Yes, it is.
​
As it turned out, it was worth it. I walked out of the first class with sore legs and buoyant spirit.

Some of my what if's came true. I was the only beginner in the class and felt awkward and shy. My feet were not on the same page as my mind for most of the class.

But it didn't matter. Each time I managed the steps in rhythm felt like a small victory. The members of the class were welcoming and I’ve got a video to practice with. I know I’ll do a little better with each class. Best of all, it was fun.

Variety and learning something new are energizing. Learning something new expands who we are. That’s definitely worth making a priority.
​
We can have the mind-set that it is better to stay with the same old, same old. Or we can have the mind-set that invites us to look for ways to add interest, color and variety to each day as we choose to live a full and balanced life.  

“Let go of the idea that life is hard work and see that it is soft. You are just surrendering and allowing.”
-Red Feather
​

Why is it that life often just feels like hard work? Why do we make it so? Does life have to be hard work?

We can be grateful for our hard work because it goes hand in hand with a sense of accomplishment. It is that for which we strive not the hard work itself. It is so that we can look back and say, “This is what I did.” It feels good, and in the process we learn valuable spiritual lessons. There is purpose in this path.

It is not the only path however. For it is possible to grow through play. How else do children learn so well and so easily? It is only when learning becomes hard work for them that they bog down and struggle, just like adults.

What’s the difference? The difference is that sense of ‘have to’, ‘should’, ‘must’. The difference is the element of fear around whatever it is not getting done. “If I don’t do this, I won’t get paid. If I don’t do this, I won’t be able to pay my bills. If I don’t do this my house won’t be clean and what will my guests think? If I don’t do this, I’m not a good parent, employee, person.”

There are so many ways that fear can enter into why we choose to do or not do. Yet fear creates that sense of struggle and hard work. In contrast, anything done from love, with love, becomes ease and flow. Either way we learn, we grow. It is just a matter of choosing how we want to go about it.

But how will we ever get anything done if we just do what we want?

The truth is that we do what we want anyway. We just like to complain about it, to ourselves and to others. We want to clean the house because we want to feel good, or we want others to think well of us, or whatever other reason we have. We want to work to pay our bills, because we want to get paid, we want to live in our homes, we want to eat and buy things. We are doing what we want. It just feels like hard work.

Now what would it look like if we flipped the switch, like changing the voltage of our electrical current from 110 to 220? What would it look like if we raised our vibration enough so that we do what we do guided by thoughts of love and appreciation?

Then it would look like this, “I really appreciate this ability I have to earn a living.” “I'm glad I have this vacuum cleaner that makes cleaning the mess on my floor easier.” “I am grateful for the people I love in my life.”  “I so appreciate the blue sky, the wind, the sun on my face.”

The more we can do this, finding something to appreciate about whatever we are doing, whatever circumstances we find ourselves involved in, the more and more we will have to appreciate in our lives. Circumstances around us will change and become more and more pleasing.

Even finding the littlest things to appreciate matters and makes the difference because it is the attitude of appreciation, that love expressed, that will make the difference. We become motivated by love rather than fear. We are expressing love rather than fear into our lives. The Universe will respond by reflecting that love back to us, in small ways and in large. Life will no longer feel like such hard work. A life filled with an attitude of appreciation is a life filled with grace and with flow.