It's funny how things happen in life. Opportunities come and go, tests are failed and lessons learnt. If we don't learn from our mistakes, then we keep making the same mistake until we learn from it.

This point came through to me loud and clear the other day. I was channel surfing and I stumbled on the Biography channel. The program was called "the 5 things you need to know before you die". I thought that was kind of interesting so I stuck around and watched the remainder of the program. The lecture was given by a doctor named Dr. Izzu or something like that. He lives in BC somewhere and I found him to be absolutely fascinating. While I don't think I learned the 5 things I need to know, I think I did learn 3 of them.

He said that he had learned all he needed to know about life from his dog. He talked about how we all rush through life, always focussing on what lies ahead or what happened in the past but not living in the moment. He talked about how he would take his dog for a walk and the whole time they were out, he was impatient with his dog because the dog would stop and smell the flowers, explore all the new sights and sounds and smells. He'd be hurrying the dog along, not letting him stop to sniff the flowers. He said one day it dawned on him that his dog was enjoying the walks way more than he was because the dog was taking it's time, smelling the flowers, taking time to visit with the people and animals it met along the way. He said once he learned to take his time, live in the moment, that the whole experience was richer and more fulfilling. He met new people and enjoyed the exploration.

He also kept using the phrase: "to the subconscious the thought becomes a prayer". What we think - about ourselves. our lives, our hopes, our dreams - becomes our reality. Now, I knew that, I've read it a thousand times, I've heard it a thousand times but for some reason it just hit me. It was a light bulb moment. Wow! How profound is that?

The other thing he talked about is gratitude. He described how an elderly friend says each morning when he wakes, he gives himself 2 or 3 minutes to meditate. He thanks God, the creator, the Supreme being , whatever deity you believe in, for giving him another day and asks that the day not be wasted. This same gentleman takes 2 or 3 minutes each night before he goes to sleep to catalog all the reasons he has to be grateful and thanks God for giving him this day.

I've always thought of myself as being a person who is aware of all the things I have - aware and grateful. But I think I'm going to have to revisit that whole idea. This whole aspect of gratitude really me; it touched a chord and really reasonated with me. Consequently, I've made a promise to myself to make an effort to embody these things in my life. I've pledged to myself to take that few minutes at the beginning of the day to thank God for the gift of another day and to pray that I don't waste that gift. At the end of my day I want to take a few minutes to thank God and to catalog some of the things for which I am grateful - for the "gift" of another day, the "gift" of all the loved ones and friends in my life, for all the opportunities I have.

I am so happy that I stumbled upon this program!