Thankful Calendar!!

I have such exciting news!! This project has been in the works for some time now, and it was oh so not easy to keep under wraps. Now that the time has come, I am so excited to finally share it with you:

The 'Thank You' Project - meaning you, me, us - we now have our own Thankful Calendar!

Huge thanks to Stephanie of Stelie Designs for helping make it happen and for making it look oh so pretty. Our 'thank you' desk calendar features fun colorful illustrations and 'thankful' quotes by real people from all over the world, so each month reminds you to give thanks and focus on the better all the while bringing color to your day and hopefully a smile to your face. Big thanks to everyone who shared their 'thanks' with me and let me use them in TTYP projects!

As The 'Thank You' Project's tag line goes - "a 'thank you' a day keeps the worries away" - we sincerely hope that the Thankful Calendar 2012 will help you keep a thankful mindset and help keep those worries away each day of the week, each week of the month and each month of the year.

I will be posting more pics of the calendar soon, right now you can take a look and get it here. Do share the excitement with me and let me know what you think! Which month is your favorite?

P.S. Happy International Thank You Day!

Food for Thought, Thanks to Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical work, La Gaya Scienza, has one powerful piece (341: The Greatest Weight) that really makes you think - you just instantly want to pause for a moment and look at your life from a very different angle. I can also see a strong connection to the gratitude theory here. What do you think, do you see it too?

“ What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you in your loneliest loneliness 
and say to you: 
"This life as you now live it and have lived it, 
you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; 
and there will be nothing new in it, 
but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh 
and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, 
all in the same succession and sequence — even this spider 
and this moonlight between the trees, 
and even this moment and I myself. 
The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down 
again and again — and you with it, speck of dust!" 
Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? 
Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him:
"You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine!" 
If this thought gained possession of you, 
it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you; 
the question in each and every thing, 
"Do you desire this once more, and innumerable times more?" 
would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight! 
Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life 
to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal? ”

Power of Gratitude, Explained (in under 150 characters)

That's it. Exactly the way it works, and exactly my experience with it. Isn't it motivation enough to give it a try?


Image is my own

Appreciate Summer

Appreciate summer while it lasts!

"Life, even in the hardest times, is full of moments to savor. They will not come this way again, not in this way" - Paula Rinehart

Sertac Yuksel shot this video over a couple of days on the streets of Istanbul. He took his camera, strolled through the streets alone and had a great time with the help of summer and a real life outside - Times Like This is the outcome.

If Life Handed You Lemons, What Would You Do?

If life hands us lemons, we're told to make lemonade... But, in my opinion, sculptor and writer Bridgette Mongeon offers a much better scenario, suggesting that a true winner might as well just take it all. She says:

"If life wanted to hand me lemons, I'd not only make lemonade, but I'd use the zest for cookies, plant seeds for future fruit and turn the rind into compost to grow flowers, all the while giving thanks for lemons."

Now how about that? With such attitude, anything is possible! If we translate the lemon talk to human language and take a look at Bridgette, it's no wonder she's just as many things as she suggets - a portrait artist, sculptor, writer, educator, wife and mom and a public speaker on topics such as marketing, social media, business of art, creativity, progressive education and spirituality. Food Lemons for thought, anyone? 


Image via