Here’s a TAG breakdown, by letter:

 

Thanks-Giving

Note three simple comforts or pleasures that your ordinary, daily life holds, such as good friends and loving family members, running water,
a car that works, everyday sensory delights (like a cup of tea or coffee
in your favorite mug or a beautiful sunset).

 

Consider the “underpinnings” of your good life as well. Who or what
sustains you? Whose love and generosity contributed to who you are,
what you have, and what you do?

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Thankfulness is a great energy that allows you to connect with your happiest, most creative self. Naming even a few of the good things in your life invites more good. It also lifts the heart, taps into positive emotion and provides solid, loving, nurturing ground to stand on each day.

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Notice the good that you take completely for granted. (For example, I never offered thanks for having running water in our kitchen sink until it clogged and the plumber couldn’t come for a few days.) Write down a good friend’s name, the fact that there are people in the world who love you just as you are. Don’t forget your thankfulness for what you hear, see, taste, touch, and smell: a favorite song, a cat’s purr, a mockingbird trill. A crisp Winesap apple. The smell of rosemary rubbed between your fingers. Crisp, clean sheets. A dogwood in bloom. A photo that reminds you of a special trip and/or of someone you love.

Beyond pleasures and comforts, contemplate the source of the goodness in your life, too. Can you connect with a sense of awe and wonder for your life itself? For the opportunity each day to manifest love, and to receive it? To grow in wisdom?

 

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Act-Knowledge-ment of Your Accomplishments and Actions

Note three instances in which you’ve been of service to others, achieved
success, or acted on behalf of one of your own dreams or goals.

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This funny spelling of the word acknowledgment is a bit of wordplay that came about one morning when I noticed that acknowledgment has at its core the words act and knowledge—along with a suffix that denotes an action or resulting state. Aha! To acknowledge ourselves, I realized, is to give ourselves the knowledge that we have acted. Given that I so often berate myself for what I DON’T

accomplish rather than celebrating what I actually DO, this shift is heartening. The beauty of noting what I accomplish through this list of “Ta-done’s” (as opposed to “To-do’s”) is that I now spend more of my time mindfully, and productively, doing what I can.

What did you do today that made your corner of the world a little better? To whom did you offer a needed smile or a kindness? What useful end did you work toward, at work or at home? What healthy habits did you engage in? How did you add beauty and/or order to life? (Yes, even cleaning out your
refrigerator or garage is, as my dad used to say, “a contribution to better living.”) As well as noting your service to others, give yourself “the knowledge that you have acted” on behalf of one of your own dreams or goals. And if you haven’t, what could you do tomorrow? (You can make this an item on
your “I’M IT!” list.) And don’t forget that how you’re being is as important as what you’re doing. It’s an accomplishment to be patient and cheerful when what you feel like doing is biting someone’s head off!

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If one of your dreams is writing, take Miller Williams’s advice to “First, notice everything”: paying attention to the specific details of your life counts! So does reading good writing, crafting a few beautiful sentences, revising, meeting with a writer friend, ten minutes listing what to write about . . .

 

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Gratitude for Gifts Received

Note three unexpected gifts of the day, tangible or intangible, that you’re grateful for, such as compliments, kindnesses, opportunities, or synchronicities.

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Yes, gifts are things we’re thankful for. But there is a difference between Thanks-Giving for the good our “ordinary” lives hold and Gratitude for specific Gifts received. Gifts can be physical objects, but they can also come in the form of affirming words, experiences, kindnesses large and small, serendipities and synchronicities that let us know Divine Love (or the Universe, or a creative source, depending on your beliefs) is guiding our lives. A parking spot close to the grocery store when it’s raining is a gift. So is a compliment, whether it comes in a text, in an email, or in-person. The more you pay attention, the more you’ll notice the gifts that are being given to you through a multitude of sources.

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In the writing realm, gifts can manifest in numerous ways, such as unexpected opportunities, positive feedback on our work, and ideas that burst forth in our own imaginations or around us—like an overheard bit of dialogue that fixes a scene or a phrase you read in a poem that reminds us of something we want to write about.

 

And here are a few words about the important final step, “I’m It”:

 

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 . . . I’M IT!
Choose the three most-important-to-you actions you will take
tomorrow. based on your deepest commitments and what will
inspire the most love, peace, and fulfillment.

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When it comes to crafting meaningful work, living a healthy lifestyle, building rewarding relationships, reaching our goals, and fulfilling our dreams, each of us is IT!

Yes, we all deserve rich support, to seek and accept help. But no one can cause your success but you. Only you can determine how to best live out your vocation, which Frederick Buechner defines as that intersection “where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.”

As legendary choreographer Martha Graham said, “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

0Each new day is an opportunity to “keep the channel open,” to connect with the best within us and without us, to mindfully choose what matters most. Yes, it takes courage to be the one to select, deliberately, only a few actions to positively commit to from the myriad of possibilities. But take heart. Take on being the one holding the reins of your life. Practice patience: some of our most desired outcomes can only be reached by taking one small step after another, and another . . . And much of our happiness comes from tending the love and beauty that is already ours.