Daily Insight Video

Happy November Everybody!

It is the month of gratitude! In honor of that, my friend, Dr. Itai Ivtzan, and I have decided to dedicate this month to gratitude. We had a talk about this topic last week, where we discussed what it really means in Positive Psychology and how it plays out in our daily lives.

Since our conversation, I have really been trying to increase my gratitude meditations. It feels amazing to sit and really try to cultivate a feeling of gratitude in my whole body and my entire life. It has been blissful!

However, this morning I was woken up by my wife at 4:00 am telling me that someone had broken into our garage and stole my two mountain bikes. My first honest thought, which is something I am so proud of, was gratitude; at least they broke into our garage and not our house. I really believe that the practice I had been doing with gratitude is a large reason for this being my first thought.

My second thought was not quite as positive, and I was definitely mad about the situation. However, I got over it because there was nothing I could do about it at this point.

So, at 4:10 in the morning I went out to talk with my neighbor and the police. As we were standing there, we saw that there was one bike left behind from the bike thief. There were three options of which bike this could have been: 1) the bike that the thief rode in on, 2) the bike that I like, but don’t really love, or 3) the bike that I absolutely LOVE.

It was the bike that I love!

I was SO excited and grateful at that moment, and it amazes me now to think about the rollercoaster of things that went on in my head during the whole ordeal. I went from having two bikes the day before, to have no bikes at 4:00 am, to having one bike that I love at 4:10 am. Woah!

It is also amazing for me to think about all of things I am grateful for in that situation. At least the thief broke into the garage, not the house. At least they took the bike I like, not the one I love. At least everyone is safe, and no one got hurt. There were so many ups and downs throughout the morning, but it left me realizing that I have choice in every situation that comes my way. There is always a bright side, even in a situation where someone breaks in to your garage and steals your mountain bike. It is our responsibility to find the positive in that situation and choose to grateful.