Gratitude after 10:00 a.m.

Be pleasant until ten o’clock in the morning
and the rest of the day will take care of itself.
(Elbert Hubbard)

I got a good night’s sleep last night, thankfully. I was able to get up extra-early this morning in order to get some housecleaning done – both literally and in a business/email sense. As I headed out the door to two client appointments I felt a bit harried, but ready for the day.

By 10:00 I had one no-show and an email from the second asking me to reschedule. Hmmm. I was, indeed, pleasant until 10:00. Now I have a choice. Will I remain so and, according to Hubbard’s theory above, believe that the rest of the day will take care of itself? Or will I be irritated, frustrated, and surly…focusing on how much time I lost and what I could have been doing instead?

Maybe, because it’s just now 10:30, and because I was, indeed, pleasant until 10, I’m easily sticking with the former. I’m really not all that irritated, frustrated, or surly. Truth-be-told, I’m grateful for the time this unforeseen change has offered. And I now feel like the rest of my day will be a wide-open space in which to get a TON of things done: necessary and unnecessary, intentional and fun. I’m grateful.

Though I like Elbert Hubbard’s thought, perhaps more important than being pleasant until 10:00, is being grateful. Regardless of what happens in my days or nights, my work or relationships, my friends or family, I have much for which to be thankful. Before or after 10:00 in the morning, that’s worth remembering, reflecting on, and living.

Now, back at it!

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget
that the highest form of appreciation is not to utter words,
but to live by them.
(John F. Kennedy)

Related Posts on Gratitude:

Nancy’s Brain. Nancy’s Heart.
The Bus
Paying It Forward @ Starbucks

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