Day one:  Gratitude in action. Every day, I will show relationships and organizations  how much I love and appreciate them.  Question of the day:  How did I think I was going to pull this off?

It should be easy enough, thanking people or establishments for their positive role in my life.  Step one:  Establish what I love about their presence.  Step two:  Thank them.  Only the purpose of the challenge was NOT just to express my gratitude.  Thirty days of Gratitude in Action was about living in my abundance and beating that desperate feeling

Day 1- 30 Days of Gratitude in Action- I love my BFF from Liz Nead on Vimeo.

of scarcity I have been feeling.  Speaking and writing my thank you’s would not achieve that goal.  I’m a WORDS person, it would be too easy and the feeling of abundance would slip away before the prose left my mouth.  In order to really embrace the richness that already exists in my life, I needed to SHOW ME THE REASONS to be grateful.

One problem:  I have things to do!  Scarcity would only retreat as I boldly advanced.  Writing blogs, following up with clients, sending out speaking packets, connecting my skills with those in need.  Displaying my gratitude would not only take some thought-investment but also a donation of my time.  As I thought about my best friend and what would show her how much I loved and appreciated her, I could feel the uncomfortable push and pull of my counter-intuitive plan.  I had to leave my constantly growing list, knowing I wouldn’t be getting everything done today.  My priority:  to fully acknowledge and embrace this exercise in thankfulness.

Step one:  Think about what I am grateful for.

My best friend Molly is the mother, sister, friend everyone should have in her life.  Our

relationship is far from perfect; we love each other passionately and the thought of losing each other can send the two of us clashing.   Over the last ten years, she has become a place of relief.  She listens closely to the details of my journey, seems to experience the excitement almost more than I do, fiercely defends my dream when I lose momentum, and remembers and references the specifics of all that I have told her.  She proves her resources are not as important as our friendship through her willingness to help in any way she can over the past ten years.  My children see her as a second mother and her home as a second home.  Somehow, she has been able to balance supporting me and my feelings in my marriage while believing in the possibility of forever love with my husband.

She relieves the pressure when it gets to be much.  She is my proverbial port in the storm that is my life.

I should be thankful, right?

Step Two:  Find a way to show her.

It’s hard to show thankfulness to someone who means so much.  It’s too easy to write a

note or buy a gift certificate.  I wanted her to feel the relief that I feel every day that she has been my closest friend.  Relief can only be defined by the person, so Monday night, as we ate together, I listened.  Lately, she’s been feeling her own imbalance between work and home.  Not enough time to get it all done.  And as I left for the night, a flash of berghundy caught my eye.  Laundry!  Finally, I had a seed of an idea.  Tomorrow would be day one.  I am ready to receive the abundance that exists in my life right now.

I started the day normally.  Work out, get the girls the ready for school.  As the bus pulled away, I could feel the pull of my responsibilities.  So many opportunities to prepare for.  I need to get started now.  But, this was day one and it was time to acknowledge the good in my life, so I packed up my things and went to her house at 9:00am.  Somehow, this would make sense eventually, offering time I did not have for my gratitude experiment.

I let myself into her garage and walked in, looking around.  I knew I would do her laundry but I needed to give her more. I wanted her to walk in to her house and feel there an absence.  Nothing.  No need for effort.  Done for the day.  I started the laundry and went into the kitchen.  I could unload her dishwasher.  Good, but not enough.  Maybe in her bedroom, I would find something else.  In her closet, a shelf full of tank tops and work out

clothes.  I sat and watched Regis and Kelly and folded the clothes.  Color coordinating the categories for fun.  Then I worked on e-mail while the laundry went through the cycles and I felt the excitement building.  She was going to be so excited.  I wished for a hidden camera so I could see her walk through her home with an odd sense there was something out of place in her space.

A quick note describing what she meant to me, I left behind my sense of satisfaction, late for my meeting, her bed filled with cleaned and folded clothes.  I thought about her intermittently through the day.  I wanted to call her, to spoil the surprise but I waited.

7:00pm.  I eagerly answer when her name and number  pop up on my screen.  “Hi Molly,” full of cheer and feigned innocence.  “How are you?”

“What did you do,” her voice watery and full of tears.  “You are so sweet!  I wanted to wait until I stopped crying to call you but I couldn’t stop crying.”

Like chickadee friends, we flitted and chattered with excitement.  What I was thinking, how often I thought of her, how happy I am she received my gift so completely.  My heart expands with our bond.

Ahhhh.  I am blessed.

If you want more inspiration, check out Life Dare TV on Fox 17 or the Life Dare website.  Think about taking your own challenge on 30 Days of You.  Or get more of Liz through coaching, the Inspired Life Audio collection or bring her to your organization to speak!