THANKFUL

The last few days have been filled with wonderful expressions of love from people. I received a call from a gentleman who used to work in my department. Someone else called with some advice on how to accomplish something that I want to do. Last night, a woman that I mentor treated me to dinner.

I meditate each morning and before I start I sit quietly with overwhelming thankfulness in my heart. I am thankful for all the wonderful people and things in my life. I do not take them for granted. What are you thankful for?

SCHEDULING TIME FOR FUN

Has your life become so hectic that you do not have time to do the things that you enjoy? Your schedule can become overwhelmed with work and familial responsibilities. Any available time during your day easily becomes filled with work or other activities rather than things that you actually enjoy doing. The key is putting some play time in your schedule every day even if it is only a short amount of time. This will allow you to offset some of the stress that builds up from the other activities.

Why not take a moment to do what these two dogs are doing, HAVE FUN! How many of you schedule fun time with your dogs? What do you do?

 

SERVICE DOGS TRAINED BY PRISONERS

I often speak about the tremendous effects that dogs have on people’s lives. My own dog is an example – he consoled me when my mother’s dementia worsened. Another example is service dogs that are trained by prisoners. There are so many positive results that arise from these training programs. They include: providing well trained service dogs that will enhance the lives of people with disabilities, allowing prisoners to open up their hearts to dogs that give them unconditional love without judgment of the crimes they may have committed and feeling a sense of accomplishment when they conduct this training. Here is a great story about this topic:

Service Dogs Trained by Prisoners

Please tell me your stories about how dogs have helped you in any areas of your (or others’) lives, I would love to hear them!

WAYS TO START OFF YOUR NEW YEAR

Here is an article from Success magazine – it offers some great tips on starting off your new year. Enjoy!

44 Ways to Star Your New Year