"Gratitude is a vaccine, an antitoxin, and an antiseptic.” — John Henry Jowett

I have found this quote to be totally true many times in my life, but more so recently.  As I have been continuing my recovery from my knee-replacement surgery, I have focused on this quote many times, especially over the last day or two and let me tell you; gratitude is every bit of a vaccine, an antitoxin and antiseptic.    There have been a few down moments when I start feeling sorry for myself, but this is such a great attitude and outlook adjustment.  I have talked to my wife about this too and she totally agrees and has helped me to refocus my attention back on getting better and looking ahead.

This also got me remembering a few more things about my stay at the hospital.  My first roommate was an elderly gentleman from another country, who could not speak English to well.  Plus, being in such close quarters, it was not hard to hear things about what he was battling.  He was dealing with throat cancer, something wrong with his jaw along with having recently broken one of his legs too.  This got me feeling better right away about my status but I also picked up on how hard his son was working on making sure he was being taken care of.  The questions, the time spent in the hospital and on the phone, all to make sure his dad was getting the best care possible.  His son had to be a little younger than me, but I was impressed.The language barrier was helped a little with a few doctors & other medical personnel that could speak this man’s native language.   So many times you hear of people kind of being left on their own when it comes to these types of health issues.  This man's son did such a great job, a lesson for me and everyone.  Well, they had to move his dad from this hospital I was at to another one for the different and specialized treatment that he needed. 

I was alone for a couple of hours until my new roommate arrived.  Again, quickly finding out that he was a guy my age having just went through his second back surgery. Now this got my attention quickly as I have back surgery coming up in early November.  This guy was a nice guy, hard worker throughout his lifetime and again, I could pick things up even without really talking to him right away.  We did talk a few times through the curtain telling about our stories a little bit to each other.  It was great to see the support that he had there from his wife and his mom the first evening after his surgery.  Then his wife was there for a good part of the day on Thursday.  He also had a buddy that came in on Friday morning to visit for a little bit too.  

I noticed quickly this guy appreciated the people that came to visit him and that he was very grateful for their time spent with him.  He was in a lot of pain it seemed, but it didn't keep him from doing the little things he had to start to do to get better.  We found ourselves talking a few times, trying to keep encouraging each other a little bit along with having some fun with some light-hearted comments and a bit of laughter.  We spent a little time talking about how will have to find a new profession / career as with his injuries his doctors have told him he would have to make some changes.  As I had my time to spend thinking, this got me thinking how grateful I was for the time spent with both roommates and the lessons that each gave to me.

I am now into my Physical Therapy sessions.  First was four  visits here at home and now I have started this week going to my regular Physical Therapist as an outpatient.  I knew it would be challenging and difficult, but I have also been thinking about this for months leading up to my surgery, the fact that I have to do these exercises and work through the pain in order to get better.  I can tell already from the people that I have been working with, that there are many more lessons of gratitude here for me to learn from and to focus on.  There will be more thoughts, observations, lessons and discussions coming from this for sure.  We all have things that we go through everyday.  There are always lessons of gratitude there for us to learn from for sure.  What are some of the lessons you have learned on your journey in life?

“Be kind whenever possible. For it is always possible.” -- Dalai Lama

What a great and simple idea to start out the new year with.

As we get going for 2014 with hopefully new ideas, new energy, new optimism, etc., maybe we can add this quote to our list of things we want to do this new year?  I  know all of us has at least one example of where you can be kinder to someone.  I have plenty of people that I know I can (and should) be kinder to.

One at the top of the list, should be ourselves.  We are all fighting many little internal battles.  We are the ones that know all about the dark thoughts and actions we have done throughout or lifetime, even if it's been hidden from others around us.  We look at ourselves every day in the mirror and these thoughts and memories are always with us.  Part of what our new year's resolutions should be about is being kinder to ourselves - forgiving ourselves and stop the beatings that we give to ourselves over things in our past that we haven't one too well.

I had the opportunity to have breakfast yesterday with a very good friend and one who I count as one of my master-mind group members.  We had a great discussion and one of the many things that I remember from that time spent with him, was the fact that I needed to continue (and even improve) my ability to encourage others.  The biggie - was that I need to do it with myself. 
We all need to do that - encourage others and encourage ourselves.

So as we start out 2014 - let's try to remember that these new ideas, goals, resolutions, etc., should not be focused on and started on for January 1st.   We really need to continue to have new goals, new ideas, new resolutions, etc., all the time and not just for the new year.  But start with being kinder to others and especially to ourselves.  What are your thoughts or ideas?  Is this something you can add to your list to start out 2014 with?