This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. 60 seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We are beginning our 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving today.

Gandhi said, “What you think, you become.”

If you think negative thoughts, you will be a negative person. Negative things will happen to you. Other people will see you as being negative. If you think positive thoughts; positive things will come to you. Practicing gratitude and thankfulness will help keep you positive. It also changes the chemistry in your brain. Consider
your brain to be a muscle. It takes practice to be positive and thankful daily.

Here’s a list on how to be thankful every day. Start with just one thing.

• Write down daily blessings
• Stop and “smell the roses”
• Practice mindfulness for small moments during the day
• Have visual reminders such as sticky notes, meaningful
• pictures, create a collage
• Listen to or sing inspiring songs
• Do volunteer work

This is been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a day. Now… Go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Is it possible to overdo thankfulness? When I am working with a client that struggles with sadness, depression, anxiety, or other life issues, I encourage them to start a gratitude journal. I encourage them to start out slowly, start small, look for the little things to be thankful for. It could be low price of gas, or catching all the green lights on the way the office, or simply having a nice cup of coffee in the morning. Is it possible to overdo it? According to some advice I found in Psychology Today, there was a study that was done and it was discovered that people who track to their gratitude once per week experienced increased happiness; but those who track the gratitude three times per week did not. It went on to say that the possibility of running out of things to write, counterproductively, make you feel like you don’t have much to be grateful for.
Everything in moderation! Look for the small things to be thankful for, and be realistic.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Seek growth and your purpose will find you. Seek gratitude and you’ll find happiness.

Do you wonder what your purpose is? I often work with clients who are seeking their life purpose. That totally makes sense. No matter what your age, we’re always seeking something new. My philosophy is this; if you’re constantly, perpetually promoting your personal growth, you’re going to know your purpose.
Because your purpose is to continue to grow. Your purpose may change from day to day, month to month, or year to year.

When you’re younger, your purpose might be “I’m supposed to be a mother” or “I’m supposed to be in this career” or “I’m supposed to do this”. And then you go through a growth spurt and your purpose changes. Your purpose is not really as big a mystery as you think. If you’re seeking growth, your purpose will find you.

So be thankful for opportunities to learn and grow.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now, go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Passion! What does that word mean? As we practice gratitude and Thanksgiving, I want to know; what are you passionate about? Do you even know anymore?

When I think of the word passion; the term love, always comes to mind. There is a lot of talk about passionate love, but how about your career? Your job? Your life?

Are you passionately in love with it? You are as happy as you choose to be. There is no point in stressing over something you can’t change. Be grateful for the experience, move on and grow stronger!

Maya Angelou said, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”

Find your passion by seeking growth in all that you do. Be grateful for experiences that teach you something. Today, be thankful that you have a job, that you have your health, and that you can be happy as you choose to be.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. 60 seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Love is a great investment. Are you thankful for the investments that you’ve made in your life up to this point?

A new house, or a valuable stock portfolio and even precious gems may seem like good investments today, but will they be there to comfort you in difficult times?

Share your joy in good times? Or sit by you as you breathe your last breath?

Live simply, dream big, be grateful, give love, laugh lots.

Robert Holden said, One new perception, one fresh thought, one act of surrender, one change of heart, one leap of faith, can change your life forever.”

As you’re busy building a successful life, and making investments in business or other capital, make sure you invest in human capital, thankfulness, giving love,
and your time.

Invest some time and energy in loving others and watch your investment grow.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

When my career first started I was a teenager. I navigated my way, and learned about networking and the importance of meeting other people in my early 20s and had the experience of being what might be called a ‘big fish in a little pond’; well, what would be considered a little pond back in those days. Fast
forward almost 20 years later and I restarting over in a new community where nobody knew me, and I’m repeating the things that I had learned. Meanwhile, I’m also restarting in the national and international forum and arena with social media and getting my name and my experiences out there. It’s a constant change and a constant evolution, which means it is constant and perpetual growth. So even when you have set backs, mine were an instance of a health crisis that completely derailed my life. When something that happens in your life; don’t give up. Don’t let it prevent you from moving forward, even if it means starting over somewhere else. You can use the tools, what worked for you before, to continue
to build upon and the things that you didn’t like about what you were doing before, you can eliminate them. That is the beauty about this new craze of transformation or reinventing. It’s all about growth.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Two, four, six, eight! Who do we appreciate? When I began working on this topic about who you appreciate, I just couldn’t help but think of that cheer, from when I was a cheerleader. Who did we appreciate?

Who in your life do you appreciate? Do you cheer them on? Do you let them know how much you appreciate them? Do you show your gratitude? Being grateful for others is good for our health, emotions, and spirituality. Expressing that gratitude also boosts the mood of the person were thankful for. Don’t hold back. Make one call today. Send that email of gratitude. Connect with somebody
on social media and let them know you appreciate them. Take the time to show appreciation. And you know, it could even be somebody you don’t like. “Be grateful when someone undermines your dreams, predicts your doom, or criticizes you in anyway, because they just shared their story, not yours!”

Say this mantra in your head today, two, four, six, eight! Whom do I appreciate?

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Go out to be fruitful!

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

“The way you start your day can affect your whole day…begin it with a smile, calmness of mind, coolness of emotions and a heart filled with gratitude.”

Think about this as you go about your day, how am I fortunate? Begin by counting your blessings. What are the things you are thankful for? Make a note of it. I start my day off writing in my journal, in my cozy chair, with a hot cup of coffee, with hazelnut creamer, and begin to write some words of gratitude. I love the slow
starts of my day. I make a list of things I was grateful for the day before, and I make a mental note to look for things to be grateful for all day long. This has worked for me for years. I encourage all my clients to keep a gratitude journal.
Now you may not have time to sit with a cup of coffee and have a slow morning like I do, you may appreciate being able to jot down a note on a Post-it, or in your notepad on your smart phone, or even record yourself a message. Ask yourself the question today, how am I fortunate? I’ll bet you have a long list.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

What abilities am I grateful for? Are you honest about the talents that you have?
We were all given talents in our lives. Some are good at sales, math, engineering, cooking, physical fitness, sports, shopping, writing, dancing, painting, parenting.
Maybe you are good at all of that. The question is, are you grateful for these abilities? Sometimes we take our talents and skills for granted. And when one doesn’t possess a specific talent, we tend to beat ourselves up over it.

Know this, “Life is a circle of happiness, sadness, hard times and good times. If you are going through hard times, have faith that the good times are on the way.”

Stay focused on your strengths, appreciate the strengths of others, and don’t compare yourselves. We all have different purpose to fulfill, although growth, is how we’ll get there. Focus on your own personal and professional growth. And be grateful for the abilities you have already accumulated. Let’s just grow some more.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

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This is Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day. Sixty seconds on wisdom, success, and personal growth. We’re focusing on 30 days of growth with gratitude and Thanksgiving.

Let’s talk about the relationships that we can be thankful for. What kind of relationships do you have? Romantic, family, friendship, acquaintances, boss, client, business partner? We are the sum of the five people we spend the most time with. Whether they have a negative impact on your life, or a positive one, they matter. “Give thanks to those who did you wrong. They unknowingly made you strong.” Make a promise to spend more time with the relationships that cause you to feel thankful. Set healthy boundaries. And remember, “You will never become who you want to be if you keep blaming everyone else for who you are now.”

Some of the relationships that I’m thankful for our my family, my love, my parents, my granddaughters, my old friends, my new friends, clients, new acquaintances. And of course I’m thankful for you. See how easy that is? So I’ll ask you again, what relationships are you thankful for? Make a list, I’ll bet it’s a long one.

This has been Kelly Orchard’s Apple a Day… Now go out and be fruitful.

Kelly Orchard's Apple A Day is also available in print.

Click here for more!