Awaken Your Day - July 13, 2011 - So Easy to be Thankful

" If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get."
- Frank A. Clark

My apologies for being away for a few days.  Got a little distracted with quality family time.  Which brings us to today, and this moment.

If you have followed AYD for long then you know that periodically we stop, and give thanks to at least 5 things; just to get our thinking caps going and to remind our thoughts to remember.

So, as usual, I will go first.

I am thankful for simple moments that mean so much.  I was having a sandwich supper with my son tonite. No television, no distractions, just he and I and the tricks to get him to finish his supper.  My reward was that he ate, and he shared with me his laughter each time I played silly with, "Don't you dare eat that sandwich," and he proceeded to stuff his face into it.  The innocence in a child's smile...when you see the purity of his giggle in his eyes...for this I am so very thankful.

I am thankful that my wife still enjoys her girl nites out.  We have this little thing called Trust.  It is not only meant in the way we all automatically default to thinking, but for us it also means that we have an unspoken trust... I trust that she knows I expect her to be in the moment with her friends and to have her well deserved Self time when she is out.  She trusts that I feel and know that she deserves it, and I do not clutter it with insecure man thoughts of any kind. 

I am thankful for friends who understand my work, and understand when we do not have alot of time to share, but that the time we do share is valuable, and together we make the most of it.

I am thankful for my awareness.  Understanding where I have been has made me a leader of present moments, rather than a victim who continues to trade new days of opportunity, for old days of loss.

I am thankful the fire that burns within.  Any fire.  All the fires.  To feel passion for anything, is something precious.  To act on it, to share it with others... well, that is why we are here in the mornings.  Awakening our sleeping understanding of a fire that burns inside each and everyone of us. 

Go thru your list of any five.  I ask you.  I challenge you.  It takes but a moment to do, but the thoughts will stay with you all day.

I thank you for sharing your gratitude.  You will thank you as well.
Good Morning.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, Dad!!!!!, Author, Friend

Awaken Your Day - July 6,2011 - Assignment Thursday

"What can you do right now to begin to turn your life around?  The very first thing is to start making a list of things to be grateful for."
- Joe Vitale, Author and Speaker

It is an assignment, and it speaks for itself, and the meaning behind it will speak to you with each item you write down, and each moment of thought you dedicate to them.

Sometimes, the best moments in a day, are in recognizing the ones that brought you this far.

Feel free to share your list with us.

Good Morning, Good day, and a Wonderful Right Now.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, Father, Author and Friend.

Awaken Your Day - Nov 8 - Foot Prints in Quicksand

I want you to be light on your feet today.
Is it wrong of me to show a demanding side?

I think not.

I believe that if you choose to share time here each day, then you have the power to make a difference...just by being you, and offering others a chance to step where you have stepped.

You all know I have a hard time believing in this Myth about Mondays and the negativity that comes so naturally with the mere thought of waking up on this day of the week. I have a hard time accepting that so many people so readily expect so little out of this gift...until I start to think that maybe they actually just expect so little out of themselves.

Should you choose to follow the lead of the uninspired, you will simply find yourself standing on their shoulders in the quicksand they seem so determined to find.

I challenge you to run to the front of the pack, and let them see you do it. Take the lead position today, and accept Monday's offer to leave the first ever known Footprint in the Quicksand. Being light and on top in your attitude will show that while you may not avoid all the draining obstacles of this weekly beginning, you can certainly avoid that sinking feeling.

Monday is an invitation to a first impression. Let others see impression, your well placed Foot Print in the Quicksand, so that they too can extend their meeting with that strong beginning.
Good Morning...and thanks for your help.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, "Da...dee", Author and Friend.
www.thecardconnection.ca

Awaken Your Day - Oct 13, 2010 - Don't Forget the Obvious

It is so easy. So easy that we all do it. Sometimes, often.
It is so easy, to forget to be thankful for some of the obvious things in our lives.
Surely we do not intend to take these things for granted. However, life's activities have a tendancy to pile on ... and our focus gets derailed somewhat...and our obvious, yet oh so important pieces get hidden under layers of "life stuff".
Even when these pieces are right there in front of us.

So I thought, since Thanksgiving was just here, I might ask you a question...
Did you just go thru the motions of another holiday, saying "Thank You" only at the table during Grace, and then rush thru the festivities...?
Did you find a moment and stop, and actually look around your life and identify a few things you are truly thankful for?
Did you pause to FEEL thankful?
Did you take but a moment to actually embrace your gratitude, and let the feelings that come with such a moment make you feel better.... like a full breath of fresh air on a cool morning.

No?
Then I suggest we share a moment now.
You know the drill, as we have done this before, and we will do it again, for it is a simple gesture that carries alot of meaning.

I will start.

I am thankful I get to fly to work, instead of driving a treacherous hiway, for it brings peace to my wife's already worried heart...and thus, it is one less negative thing to think of while I am away.
I am thankful that each of our families, my wife's and mine, love and accept each of us fully into their lives and look at us as One. Not everyone has this comfort, and i know that many other parts of our marriage are made easier by this love and acceptance.

I am thankful for turning 40, and not feeling older.

I am thankful for every life lesson I have learned, and that I do not have an Ego that guides those lessons.

I am thankful that I like who I am, and that I don't feel I need to act like someone else to be accepted.

I am thankful that I have learned to think more rationally, instead of reactionary. It makes a difference in the quality of my moments.

I am thankful for well placed pictures that allow you to have captured a moment, and then to escape to it, as often as you like.

I am thankful that my wife taught our son to say "Daa-Deeee" and for how fast my heart beats when he smiles and runs to me.

And yes, my biggest obvious, is that I am thankful for my wife and son and every storyline that led them to be my life, and all I can do to compliment theirs.

Anyone can just easily say, "Thank you for this...and that"... but i am asking you to Feel Your Gratitude...and in so doing, you will revisit the Why of your Gratitude. Pick a few, pick many. There are no rules.

Take care.
Have a wonderful day, and Thank you...for stopping by.
See you tomorrow?

Pierre Couturier
Husband, Da Dee, Author, and Friend.
www.thecardconnection.ca

Awaken Your Day - Sept 9,2010 - Gratitude

Your word for the day, and I hope you choose to embrace it, is Gratitude.

Try to show it. Try to feel it. Try to express it so others can receive the joy from someone being grateful.

To start you off in the right direction and to get the feeling warmed up, right now without thinking alot, come up with 5 things you are thankful for.

It could be your family, someone special, the roof over your head, your job, your friends, your health or the lack of an issue or dark cloud greeting you this morning. What are YOU thankful for?

Now, if you have your five, pause for a moment.... and now, stop to think of each of your five things for a moment each. Uninterupted focussed thought, so that you can feel WHY you are thankful.

When we pause life's busy pace for a moment and actually focus on something we are grateful for, it allows us a minute to once again truly touch it, and I dare say you will be Thankful that you did.

I am thankful for you, and that you share these mornings with us here.
Have a wonderful day.

Pierre Couturier
Husband, "Da-dee", Author and Friend