The Day After Christmas...

...and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. It's a pretty quite morning here at the Parkinson household. My wife and son are still up in Burlington, ND with her family and I'm home with the morning off sitting in a quite house taking these moments to be grateful!

I was thinking back on what this month was like back in 1977. On the 26th, I would have been only 21 days old and yet there would have been so many people I would have been grateful for already...all the people at the hospital, my family, friends of my family, strangers, etc.

I'm actually able to get a very clear picture of those first few weeks since my mother was so diligent at tracking those days in my baby book. What a trip to read her handwriting from 29 years ago! I was born on the 5th and had eight visitors that first day. On Dec 8th, we went home...on the 16th my cord fell off...on the 18th I went to church for the first time and played Baby Jesus in the Christmas program. Each experience, each moment leaving an impact on my life whether I was aware of it or not.

Today was the first time I actually sat down and read through my baby book. Being able to look back on those weeks with such detail is truly an amazing gift and I give thanks to my mother for keep such good records.

ON ANOTHER NOTE...
I do have to share how the power of thanks creates a clearing for clarity. In November, I videotaped my cousin's wedding and last week I couldn't find the video tape. So I was a little panicked and was "frantically" trying to find the tape. Okay, "frantically" is a little dramatic but I was trying to find the tape, no doubt. When I came up empty in the common places I decided to sit quietly and give thanks for finding the tape...the whole "Thanks in Advance" exercise. What I could remember about the tape was that it was green. So after I gave thanks for finding it, I was immediately remembered one other place to check...my other coat pocket. That night after work I went home to check that coat and sure enough "BAM" there was the tape. But the interesting thing was when I went to check the tape it wasn't the right tape! I had given thanks for finding the green one and I found the green one...now I realized I had to give thanks for finding the wedding footage...so I stopped gave thanks again and within a few moments..."BAM" the impression came to check the actual video camera box back at my work...well you can imagine how the "rest of the story" goes...I went to work and found the tape. So twice in the same search I gave thanks and produced results.

The Action Steps

Every morning when I wake becomes a new day on my journey of thanks...along this journey I've established a checklist of the things I'm committed to doing. To include you on this journey and to give you the steps you may choose to take on yourself I've included my plan here.

Everyday consists of the following:

1) "Thanks in Advance" - In the morning, I write 5 things I'm grateful for about this day in advance of them happening. This is what I'm calling "Thanks in Advance." There are examples of this in my previous posts. Be happy and grateful for the things that will occur in your day...and you'll start to see that the act of doing this step actually creates the experience.

2) "The Video Journal Entry" - Since I'm documenting this process for a film, I also record video messages everyday. These can be insights from the journey or moments I feel are worth capturing. And believe me having a 3 year old will create a lot of moments worth capturing.

3) "Writing my Thank Yous" - I also write at least one thank you note a day. This journey is about thanking all the people who have made a difference in my life. 30 years worth of people...1 year to do it...I better get busy!

4) "End of Day Thanks" - At the end of each day, I give thanks for 5 things that occurred during my day. It's a way to conclude the day with thanks.

Now to be truthful, I haven't done every item everyday, but I do commit to making sure that at least one of the four items are done each day. However, I will say that some of my most inspiring days so far have been the days where I've done all four things!

Ten Days of Insights

It's been ten days since my last entry, so here is a recap on what insights and miracles have occured since I last wrote...

THANKS IN ADVANCE
One of the first steps in my day on this Journey of Thanks is to give thanks for 5 things in my day that haven't occured yet. One of the things I've come to learn is that I do need to be specific in one I'm thankful for. Case in point, on Dec. 7th I wrote, "I'm so thankful for the unexpected check in the mail." Now in my mind I'm seeing this as money coming in but I wasn't specific about the details in the thanks. So when I went home for lunch that day sure as sh*t I received a check in the mail. It wasn't a check for money coming in it was a mix up at the bank and they gave us one of our checks back. Point is, Chanda and I had a good laugh because the universe did send me an unexpected check. We just got clear that we will be MORE SPECIFIC next time!

Another powerful example of this "Thanks in Advance" came on Dec. 8th. I was working on securing a location for a video shoot we were doing for work in Louisiana. Our original location had fallen through and our local contact wasn't sure of any other land, so I had made a call to the local visitor's bureau and indicated that we were looking for a park to shoot in. I also told the woman that if she knew of anyone who might have land to let us know. So when I arrived to work on the morning of the 8th I had a little anxiety about trying to track down this location when I was in Fargo and the location was in Louisiana. Solution...give thanks. That morning I wrote, "I'm so happy and grateful for securing the location for the Louisiana shoot next week." With in an hour I received an email stating, "Dear Troy, one of my coworkers has about 40 acres of land he is willing to let you use." There I sat, dumbfounded and THRILLED that the thanks in advance had manifested itself again!

FAMILY CONNECTIONS
I'm also grateful for a nice weekend Christmas with my Dad and family. It's always a joy to connect and to share full out what we are up to. Two gifts we gave to my Dad were "The Millionaire Maker" by Loral Langemeier and a copy of "The Secret" these are two items that have had the most profound impact on our lives this year. If you haven't read the book or seen the movie...stop everything you are doing and BUY THEM NOW! Another note...we saw "Happy Feet" this weekend and there was one moment in the film that really stuck for me. It was near the end and the song "Golden Slumber/The End was being sung by K.D. Lang, and I heard the lyrics, "And in the end - The love you take - Is equal to the love - You make." Now I've heard those lyrics before of course with the Beatles...but for some reason I was moved by that scene and the power of that statement sunk in.

THE PRESENT MOMENT
And speaking of the "Now" I've been listening to "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle It's a great text on remembering the power of the present moment...the now. I'm grateful to have the work come into my life. This Journey of Thanks brings you to that present moment...that experience of now. It's a powerful place to be and it's the only place we are...NOW.

I've been tagged!

On day three of my journey and I'm happy to report the "Giving Thanks In Advance" experiment still continues to produce. Yesterday I wrote down two things I was thankful for before they happened. One was a productive phone call with a colleague and the other was lunch with my wife. Now I knew both would happen I just wasn't sure how they would look. For example, I was wanting to have a nice lunch just with my wife but I also knew one of her friends would be joining us, which was still great...but not what my intention was.

They day began, I made my phone call to my colleague, it was productive but I also received a nice compliment during the call which was unexpected and greatly appreciated. As for lunch...when I showed up at home to eat I discovered that my wife's friend couldn't make it...so it turned out it was just going to be my wife and I after all. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the fact that both had manifested so great and I believe it's because I gave thanks for them in advance!

In other news...

Looks like I've been tagged ... in a virtual game of BLOG TAG!

So I'm supposed to share five things that people don't know about me, and then I get to tag five other bloggers to do the same. Although here is the interesting thing...I only know one blogger and that is the blogger that tagged me. Her name is Jodi and she inspired me to get a blog for this project. You can check her out at http://youalreadyknowthisstuff.blogspot.com/

Although I'm not sure who I'll tag next I'll at least give you some background you might not know about me...this is a good exercise since I'll be reflecting back on my past 30 years...here are five things that impacted my life.

1) When I was three weeks old I played Baby Jesus in the church program. I guess that is where I got the performance bug!

2) In third grade my Grandpa and Grandma Weyers took our family to Disney World in Florida! It was a dream come true...first time on a plane...first time seeing Mickey...and the first time I picked an orange off an orange tree!

3) I attended Trollwood Performing Arts School in Fargo. I had a teacher and mentor named Larry who encouraged us to start a journal. I've kept one now for the over last 12 years!

4) Back to the Future is my favorite movie! Now that I have a son we watch it all the time!! We even played out the exciting train scene from Back to the Future 3 last night. He used a cookie sheet for the hover board.

5) My life has been hugely impacted by seeing the film The Secret. Jodi was the first person who showed it to me and I've lost count of how many times I've seen it now!

There it is...more of me...more of the moments that made me who I am on my journey.

Have a great day!

Day Two

Day two begins...and what I'm present to is that I'm tired today. I would have loved to have just kept sleeping but I knew that today was full of possibility and I chose to get up. Yesterday contained a few key moments I'd like to remember. First off, when I started my day I wrote out five things I was thankful for, one of which was a call from my friend Timm. Well, he called and I though...would he have called anyway or did my moment of thanks in advance begin to create that reality in my life? I'll be tracking those occurrences here. Also on my way to pick up my son, Jacob, I drove past a sign that may have been there for days but I never noticed it until last night. It said, "Remember to be Thankful." How perfect! Lastly, I had my family and friend Sheri, over last night for a little birthday celebration. My wife, Chanda and son gave me a "Thank You" Christmas ornament to commemorate the beginning of this trek. I also shared with everyone this Journey of Thanks. I'm aware that the more I share, the more I'm called to be thankful. It would be easy to just let all of this thankfulness slide, do it for a few days an then forget about it...but having a community of people around you to encourage you along your journey is great! Something tells me along the way people will be inspired to take their own journey of thanks.

So I'm going to shift my energy of "I'm tired" to "I'm grateful for being full of energy and vitality."

The Journey Begins!

Good morning! Welcome to December 5, 2006...my 29th birthday and my first post on my first blog. What will follow is my "Journey of Thanks." Between now and my 30th Birthday I plan to review my life and thank all of those people who made an impact on my life. What will show up when you live a life of graditude? What will show up when you take the moment to get present to those who impacted your live? What gets created in the world when you actually take the moment to write people a thank you note? Time will tell...The Journey Begins!