Every breath
that enters your lungs
is God’s gift to you
every inhalation
His very spirit
breathed into you
a gift you can neither
demand nor deserve
cherish each one
as if it is your last
for with every exhalation
His spirit
is drawn back out of you
taking your very life
along with it
until the gift returns once more
until the gift returns no more
THE GIFT OF BREATH
By Robert Van Valkenburgh
Meditations of a Gentle Warrior
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Work on projects wherein you cannot lose.
Involve yourself in projects wherein, even if the project itself fails, you will have benefitted in some way.
You may benefit by learning new skills.
Perhaps you will gain valuable knowledge and experience.
Maybe you will form relationships that you otherwise would not have formed.
Regardless of the outcome of the project itself, look for the bright side in whatever you do.
By thinking about life in this way, you will always be successful.
You cannot lose if you remain grateful for what you have gained.
Gratitude is the antidote for anger.
It is not that gratitude cancels out that which is has angered you.
Your circumstances, relationships, and experiences are still what they are.
Rather, gratitude refocuses your attention away from that which has angered you toward that which you are thankful for.
That which has angered you still exists, but it begins to lose its power over you.
Gratitude loosens anger’s grasp over your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
While gratitude does not change life itself, it does change you and how you perceive your life.
As you are changed internally, how you express yourself and relate to others begins to change as well.
You begin to notice that there is far less to be angry about than before, not because those things that angered you have stopped happening, but because you are less susceptible to anger itself.
As gratitude changes you, it also changes your perception of the world around you.
Through a lens of gratitude, everything looks a little bit brighter, sounds a little bit more pleasant, and tastes a little bit sweeter.
When you are going through something difficult or painful, you get to choose how you respond to the experience.
You can either question why you have to go through this.
Or you can be grateful that you get to go through this.
Obviously, it is not easy to be grateful for all difficult or painful experiences.
Nor should you let anyone tell you how to feel.
Your experience and your feelings are yours alone.
No one would suggest that trauma or injury are joyful experiences, for example.
However, if you are experiencing pain and difficulty in your life, it means you are alive, not in the obvious sense that your heart is beating, but in the sense that to live is to experience pain and difficulty.
To live is to feel and to feel is to feel everything, good and bad.
To deny yourself this experience, to ignore or reject pain and difficulty, or to push away or shut down what you perceive to be negative feelings or emotions, is to deny yourself the opportunity to truly live.
And yet, it is still your choice to make, as no one can live your life for you.
Take a moment to reflect on how far you have come.
All of your experiences, whether perceived as good or bad, have brought you here.
These experiences, along with the wisdom and perspective they have given you, are your unique superpower.
No one else has experienced the world exactly as you have and, therefore, no one else can help others in exactly the way that you are able to.
Find a way to transform your regrets into gratitude and watch the world open up before your eyes.
Meditations on God 