How could I read this letter and not feel a soul-shaking gratitude for the gift of my life?!

Perhaps if I re-read this letter every morning I will memorize it word for word.....and some day even live it!

Perhaps.

The morning could be announcing a day of great adventure. Great adventure could be announcing great joy. If you knew you were being offered great joy today, would you not leap out of bed with alacrity? Condition yourself to a great day coming today. Herald it.
 
I know I have read this again and again in so many Heavenletters, probably thinking ja ja and then hastily moving on to see what the rest of the Letter holds for me. But what about it? Chuck?

It's not difficult for me to get up in the morning. Usually I feel refreshed, and usually I am hungry. Besides, the early morning is Heavenletters time. And my boss, I, doesn't mind when I'm an hour late at work. I can always add it at night. Getting up in the morning is quite enjoyable as long as I don't envison the whole day. I know the day will bring so much that is thoroughly unenjoyable. Having to sit at your desk for hours and ours in a body that loves to move and be outdoors, doing a demanding and poorly paid work that hast lost whatever little meaning it once seemed to have, unsuccessfully trying to think of something else you could do – it's simply not the kind of thing you are looking forward to. You feel the situation can't be helped. And you always try to get past those greet-the-day passages in Heavenletters as fast as possible. But what about them?

Today the "what if" somehow stops me. Really, what if this day, contrary to routine expectation, turns out to hold adventure and joy? Wow, that would be lovely. Let's deem it possible. Let's have "advance joy" (translation of German word).

I love the what-ifs in Heavenletters. Many of them are absolutely ingenious, turning you upside down and inside out before you even notice. One day I will write a piece about them.

Jochen, we have very different reactions to the reading of this letter. When I read your comments about your reaction, it sounds like: “Oh, yeah, here we go again.” The way this Heavenletter is worded, I can see why you might read it as saying this should be how you feel about your day. Or you might read it as implying that if you don’t feel this way, you should just change your attitudes and that is all there is to it. I guess I know that these interpretations would be mistaken and I automatically look more deeply into the messages presented without thinking much about what I am doing.

I feel like God is laying a target out for me to aim at. He describes an attitude of excitement and anticipation that I could be feeling as I start each day. I think He is saying that if I am able to change my way of looking at things, the images of this letter are a little bit like what my days could be like. I can relate to this idea through my memory of times in my life when I did look forward to the next day quite joyfully. A simple example was on Christmas Eve when I was a child. There were times when I could hardly sleep. How do we get there? Shakespeare has said: “Ah, there’s the rub!” At least a letter like this helps us set our intention on a worthy goal. This letter doesn’t provide us with any technique, beyond describing the suggested attitudes, but I do find this worthwhile and I do enjoy the message, even if I am still off the mark in my own life.

I have seen a distinct change in my life over the past year or two. The change is along the lines suggested by this letter. I anticipate my days with more enthusiasm and I enjoy the little things of my life more. I attribute this directly to a change in my attitudes about the routine components in my day. For instance, I used to find driving to work an irritation. I would spend 15 to 20 minutes driving to work (and the same driving home) a little irritated when someone in front of me was driving slow or I missed a light and was delayed a few minutes and my mind would be mulling over the work I would be faced with this day or the next, etc. I have re-framed these kinds of things in my life through what I have learned in Heavenletters and similar revelations. When I slip into this old frame of mind I begin asking myself what’s the big rush? I know I have had a hurry, hurry attitude for most of my life, but for what? What am I going to do with these extra few minutes? I now realize that nothing is really changed whether I hurry or not, except that in being impatient I am spoiling a few minutes I can use to relax and appreciate the many experiences of even this little road trip. I might even do a sort of meditation while I drive and use this time to commune with my Creator. My short drives are something I anticipate now with pleasure.

The same can be said for the main work I do each day. I have always felt good about my time with my patients in my medical practice, but the quality of the experience has been somewhat diminished by my concerns about being “efficient” so that I do not make the next patients on the schedule wait too long, and worrying about not missing some important signs or symptoms that might be life threatening and engender a lawsuit, etc. etc. I have stopped all this useless negative pressure by a kind of self talk about what is truly important both in my life and the lives of my patients. I have learned to block these concerns about money and meeting the expectations of others and protecting myself from imagined fears from my mind. Low and behold my attitudes have changed! I am much more relaxed and having a better time and it seems my patients are enjoying our visits together more. I no longer have to think very often about stopping these negative ruminations since they have pretty much stopped their incessant chatter as a result of these efforts over time. On Mondays, now, I do not wish my week to hurry by so I can get to Friday more quickly. In the morning, I’m not so impatient to get to lunch. I am having more fun and not working as hard to boot! The time and effort I have spent in reframing these goals and attitudes is producing a more enjoyable and effective life for me.

I’m not sure if any of this is relevant and helpful to you, Jochen. I can relate to being bound to a work-life that I have found uninspiring or boring or drudgery and which I could see no way out of. This is not my situation now, but I have been there. Back then, I just toughed it out. I do not know if what I know now would have helped me find a more fulfilling adaptation or a way to make a change. I like to think it would.

I am looking forward to the day when my energy and enthusiasm are off the charts! I think the difference between this imagined future and my life now is a matter of my thoughts, my beliefs and my attitudes. I am convinced that my energy level and state of mind are not a product of anything physical with my brain or body; I am convinced that these physical things just reflect my thoughts about myself and the world.

This is the best I can tell you of what this letter is about for me…….Chuck

On the early early morning that I come into work on a Sunday, just when my mind was telling me how much I do not anticipate this day, another timely reminder to welcome and make my day the bright and sunny blue sky day that it actually is! Not despite of what it is. Because of what it is. And it is a new day full of treasures and pleasant surprises and beauty ahead. Aloha indeed.