Zero-Based Gratitude

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
- Albert Einstein

Zero-Based Gratitude

Perhaps you have heard of zero-based budgeting as a technique for governments, businesses, and occasionally individuals. Zero-based budgeting is in contrast to traditional incremental budgeting. In incremental budgeting, one starts with the budget for the last year, or other period, and prepares a budget for the next period based on the budget for the last period - incorporating whatever increases, or very occasionally decreases, are deemed appropriate.

Zero-based budgeting begins with a base-line of no expenditures, rather than the base-line of last year's expenditures. Each and every proposed expense must be justified on its own merits rather that falling back on the argument that it was in the last year's budget, and that everybody expects and demands it.

Most people's gratitude is incremental gratitude. If they receive a raise, a bigger house, a third car, a new love interest, or a healthy new baby, they are grateful. If they lose their job, are forced to downsize, have a tiff with their spouse, or have an illness in the family, they are disappointed and angry. Why disappointed and angry? Because they have not been blessed with as much today as they were yesterday.

Suppose our gratitude could be zero-based gratitude. With zero-based gratitude, we would be grateful for everything we had each day - regardless of whether it was more or less than yesterday. With zero-based gratitude, I can be grateful for a warm comfortable one-bedroom apartment, even if I had a four bedroom house yesterday. I can be grateful for being able to walk, even if I could run yesterday. I can be grateful for all the people, the love, the food, the shelter, the services, the health, that I am blessed with today, regardless of what I had yesterday. With zero-based gratitude, I can be grateful each day for the gift of life itself.

Consider adopting the ongoing practice of zero-based gratitude.

Further reading: Make a Gratitude List

Pay It Forward - as an Expression of Universal Gratitude

Celebrating Rainbows and Butterflies - the Small Miracles of Our Life

Friend Quotes, Love Quotes, Relationship Quotes

A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same.
- Elbert Hubbard

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.
- Marlene Dietrich

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom.
- Rabindranath Tagore

Hate is never conquered by hate,
Hate is only conquered by love.
- The Buddha

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Appreciate your friends. Continue to learn. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

The magic words for a great relationship are, "I love you just the way you are."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Forgiveness is Essential to a Great Relationship

Jonathan's articles on Relationships - Marriage, Dating, Divorce

Happy Friends - Happy You

Elbert Hubbard quote: Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.

Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.
- Elbert Hubbard

Life is as easy or as hard as you think it is.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Life is NOT "Supposed to be Fair." Know that there is no single way that life is "supposed" to be. Demanding that life meet our expectations is a sure fire recipe for a miserable existence. Life is a game with no rules. Life just happens to us regardless of our best intentions. Our only path to happiness lies in being open to receiving whatever life throws at us - with Gratitude. Have NO Expectations of life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The secret to a great life is recognizing that life was never intended to be fair. Life simply isn't "fair," and that's okay. The joy of life comes from playing the game of life as best we can, focusing far more on the love and good example we can contribute to other lives than on demanding money, stuff, love, or appreciation. Service becomes a source of joy when it is not viewed as a duty.

Further reading: Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat, Push Your Buttons, Get You Riled Up, or Annoy You - 6 Ways to Cope - jlh

Lao Tzu: He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.

Recommended books and products

Byron Katie - The Work - No one can give you freedom but you

No one can give you freedom but you.
- Byron Katie

I have been asked what events or revelations played crucial roles in my life. Today, I would like to share one of them. In August 2003, I spent a week in Brussels Belgium at Byron Katie's School for The Work. Katie's methods and the events of that week were one of the major turning points in my attitude toward life and toward myself.

I gained a new appreciation for how self-important I was and the extent to which that self-importance caused me to suffer. I had thought that I knew how things should be, relationships, religion, politics, world affairs, and much more. I discovered that I had my own opinions, and that was all. I had thought that I was open minded and acceptive of all people. I discovered how prejudiced I was.

In one amazing week I came to know myself far better than ever before, and to gain a far greater ability to choose happiness regardless of circumstances.

Katie calls what she does "The Work," and central to The Work is Inquiry. Inquiry is the process of analyzing a resentment until it no longer creates suffering. Here is a quick peek at Byron Katie's Inquiry: The Four Questions and Turnaround...

Focus on a specific resentment in which you are angry with another person for something, especially something they continue to do. As an example, "Paul doesn't listen to me."

Now, ask four questions about the resentment...

1. Is it true? In the example, "Is it true that Paul doesn't listen to me?"

2. Can you absolutely know that it's true? (Or is it only true from my personal point-of-view?)

3. How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought? In the example, do you become upset and suffer when you believe that Paul doesn't support you?

4. Who would you be without the thought? Imagine simply not having the thought "Paul doesn't listen to me," would you have less stress and suffering?

Now "turn around" the resentment in several ways. Possible "turnarounds" are, “I don’t listen to Paul,” “I don’t listen to myself,” and “Paul DOES listen to me.” For each turnaround, ask yourself whether is is as true or truer than the original statement (resentment).

Ralph Waldo Emerson quote: Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

The power of your intention, your intent, your word, is immense. We might ascribe this effect to the power of prayer, to natural forces, or to our will to create our desired outcome. In any case, use this power. Believe in what you do as well as doing it.

Further reading: Quotes on Creating Your Future

We attract abundance when we ask from a compassionate heart - jlh

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. - Matthew 7:7

Buddha: What we think, we become. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.

don Miguel Ruiz: Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love