One of the keys to having a peaceful life is to be free to be yourself. To express gratitude, enthusiasm, happiness, and love naturally—without being judged.

If you have exciting news and you want to share it, go for it! It’s not bragging… it’s spreading joy. Say you have a favorite coffee, or you tried a new wine, or read a book that inspired you and you want to say “Hey you should try this!” Let’s just say it’s the little things. 🙂 Everyone needs a pick me up now and then. It doesn’t have to be a special occasion. Leave a Kind Bar on your best friends desk at work (heyyyyy… they’re gluten free. Woo hoo!). Pull an orange from your tree and give to your neighbor. Send a card! Express kindness by all means. Kind words can turn a day around!

You are grateful to someone who has been extra good to you. They listen well, they ask how your day was. Say thank you.

Your husband and children continuously have your back. Incredibly grateful. Thank YOU for the unconditional love, 365–24/7.

I say I love you to my family A LOT, but also if I have a great doctor, an encouraging role model or dear friend I might say it. It’s just me being me! Since when is there so much love in the world that there is too much? Really.

If I make a meal and make enough for ten—and there’s just four—please take some leftovers. Just making sure there was enough! I love sharing. 💚

Someone can be the CEO of a big corporation, the school principal, the top boss or leader of the pack. Smart and savvy. But if you forget “the vibrant radiance of life,” you might be missing out.

It’s good to take a moment for a deep breath and to think of all the things that bring you joy and make you feel GOOD. You and your loved ones are breathing, walking, seeing, hearing. There’s a roof over your head. You’re not sick. There’s soup in the pantry. Everything else is ICING. Basic gratitude!

Sometimes a song, or quote, sums it all up.

Burt Bacharach—What the World Needs Now is Love:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of

From the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson:

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Or said by best-selling author and cancer survivor Greg Anderson:

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. 

So dig in. LOVE with all your heart. Be free to just be you. And if—for whatever reason—you’re not into outwardly expressing your Gratitude and Love, we won’t judge you. But don’t judge the people that do. The world needs it.