Happiness is being Grateful

"Unhappiness stems from being ungrateful for what you have"

This quote is true to so many lives out there, mine included.  There are always things that we want or (think) we need that make us a bit frustrated with our lives.  Maybe it's the Dream job that seems so far away in the distance, or we aren't living in the area or situation we want to be living in.  Maybe it's simply a new pair of shoes or even a CUP OF COFFEE (me this morning).  Whatever we want (sometimes) makes us forget about what we HAVE in our lives that really shines.

I am in Sioux Falls, SD briefly this morning with a couple of co workers putting on a clinic for the brand that we know and love (Brooks baby).  We woke up at 5:30 to do a big group run with over 80 associates and not ONE of us had a cup of coffee before the run :).  I was a little groggy-- but for those of you who know me, I was ready to dance out this run!  Between stop sign dance parties and breathing in the sunrise we crushed that 5 miles and ended up happier than we were at the beginning!  There was even coffee and BACON at the finish-- which made it a bit more exciting :)

Fast forward to the clinic and when my Co-worker Bill started to talk. Now this man is ALWAYS happy.  He is the most giving, loving, friendly person I have evern met and is ALWAYS smiling--just simply amazing.  He gave a few words of wisdom that I just had to share with the world because they were DEAD on!    One of the first topics was what I had stated previously-- his grandma used to say that "Unhappiness is just being ungrateful for what you have".  I am sure that as a little kid, that was hard to hear.  As an adult, this makes the MOST sense to me.  The idea of wanting and needing something sometimes drowns out the image of what we have in our lives that make us happy.  Friends, Family, Love, Sunshine, Music....there is so much Good in this world that is over shadowed by want.  What do you have that you are grateful for?

This morning it was Bacon, Coffee, AMAZING co-workers and a run with new friends.

Tomorrow may be different.

Another topic that was touched on was this (another one of Bill's Grandma's quotes):

"There are 2 types of people in the world-- the "IM HERE" person and the "BE THERE" person."

The IM HERE person is the one that is the life of the party-- they love being the center of attention and their presence in a room is just huge!

The BE THERE person is the one that is the listener.  The person who acknowledges the needs of others and really pays attention to what they are asking for.

Now it's really good to put on both hats but at the end of everyday my daily goal is to "Be somebody that makes every body feel like some body".  We all have our uniqueness that make us who we are, no body is the exact same, which is AWESOME!  Make it a point every morning that when you leave your house that you will make at least one person feel like they were heard, loved, and understood.

So there are your 2 little messages for the day:

-Be grateful for what you have and happiness will find you
-BE THERE for someone everyday to make them feel like an IM HERE person for a while

You are all amazing!  I hope that you smile more today than you did yesterday :)

Marey