April 16, 2009

Ten minutes of gratefulness

That's all it takes.  

If you focus your thoughts on three grateful thoughts, you'll keep your outlook healthy and your temper fully under control.  I've been doing this 'exercise' daily as part of my Abundance mentality cultivation program.  

Every day, at 3:50pm, I stop what I'm doing and make my declarations of Abundance.  I try not to choose possessions, power or status -- as they perpetuate the feelings of scarcity.  Instead, I select people, capabilities, experiences and opportunities.  

I'm very specific, and whenever possible, write them down.  Later that night at dinner, I've recollected some of these grateful thoughts to someone else as a way of committing to my sunny view.  In this case, I'm going to tell you what I'm grateful for today: 

1.  Mitch Marine:  I reconnected with him a few years ago when I moved to LA.  We knew each other in Dallas for over a decade.  He played drums in Brave Combo and later Tripping Daisy.  Currently, he's Dwight Yoakam's drummer as well as producing several projects around town. 

He and I are working on a project now, a record by a band we call The MicroThrills.  Fun stuff, retro rock, west Texas flavored.  Over the last few years, I've penned a half dozen songs with my acoustic guitar that I'm really proud of.  They reflect my point of view musically. Mitch gets the songs, and is improving them greatly.  He even brought in Joshua Grange to play on the tracks.  

Today, I'm playing hooky in the recording studio, recording vocals for a track.

I'm grateful for Mitch, my ability to write and sing songs and the opportunity to record them before I'm so old that it's a silly idea. 

2.  Upcoming speaking gigs:  I'll give five talks in the next six days at conventions all over America. This is happening as meetings are being cancelled left and right and fellow speakers stare at empty schedules.  My message on overcoming Scarcity is keeping me relevant to associations and companies at this unique point in time.  I'm grateful for my team, my partners at the speaker bureaus and MPI for providing me a lot of exposure over the last year.  

3.  You, my reader.  Every day I get to blog about what's on my mind and share my advice with several thousand people via this blog.  That is very rewarding to me.  If I didn't have an audience for my ideas, I'd be talking to myself.  So, I'm grateful that you read and comment on this blog.  

It's now 4pm, and my ten minute gratefulness drill is up.  And I'm feeling really good right now, because I've given myself a pro-reality check.  
Posted at 4:06 PM in Abundance  |  Permalink  |  Comments (4)  |  TrackBack (0)

Comments

Commentor

We can never take enough time for gratitude. I love the connection between it and the idea of abundance...ingredients for happiness :)

Posted by: Carole Foret  |  May 05, 2009 at 01:31 PM

Commentor

Thanks for sharing your practice. I am so thrilled that your speaking schedule is still as full as ever and that you're spreading such wonderful messages.
I just read The Think Big Manifesto: Think You Can't Change Your Life (and the World) Think Again, by Michael Port. I really loved it. He has some wonderful things to say about abundance thinking vs. scarcity thinking. It aligns with his core message of "big thinking" vs. "small thinking" very nicely. Wish I could come hear you -- maybe you'll be in Dallas again soon. :)
I've been out of corporate life now for 3 years (due to Acute Leukemia and a Bone Marrow Transplant), but my disability provider has preemptively -- and against my doctor's advice -- decided I need to go back to work. They cut off my income with no warning at all. I've gone through my 401K just to keep afloat and not lose my house. This is the type of scenario that truly tests one's abundance mindset. I'm trying to keep the faith! :)

Posted by: Lissa  |  April 24, 2009 at 02:20 PM

Commentor

Great practice, Tim.

And congrats on everything you are doing. I'm not surprised, but I am impressed with everything you're doing.

I know from our Yahoo! days how hard (and smart) you work.

Best to you,
David

Posted by: David J. Pollay  |  April 17, 2009 at 09:40 PM

Commentor

It sounds so simple, but it seems hard to do in this 24/7 world. But it truly is a mindset of abundance not competition or scarcity and an attitude of gratitude. I have my students keep gratitude journals. What is the best way to remind ourselves and others of this? Daily practice of 10 minutes as you suggest?

Posted by: Jann Freed  |  April 17, 2009 at 12:00 PM

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