From the mind of critic: “If kindness, gratitude, presence in the moment and love are the only authentic method of moving us forward,how come so many of us shy away from it? Are we afraid that if we show any of that vulnerability we’ll be viewed as week, and people will walk all over us, making their way forward that much easier? Or have we never known the power of gratitude and kindness and the motivational power it contains, and believe the only way to get ahead, is to be the biggest jerk we can to as many people as we can? Doing something that we’ve never done before or don’t have much experience at can be hard, causing us to second guess every action and thought we have. Now if our first reaction is to be a jerk because we’ve seen other people succeed that way, we’re probably moving forward with what examples we’ve seen. We can fake it till we make it, but it’s more than that. Maybe we’re afraid to show gratitude and kindness to early, for fear we wont be defensive enough when our detractors come knocking. Maybe we feel we don’t deserve kindness and gratitude before we become successful, that only people at the very top of their game, at the apex of their goals are grateful, because how can we be thankful for anything unless it’s the 100% completion of our dreams. Once we realize that if we attempt to wait until we have everything we want to be grateful and kind it will guarantee our failure, we’ll see that gratitude for all that we have, and kindness to ourselves and others, is how we stay present in the moment so we can move forward. It’s not so much about others pushing us forward so we push ourselves, it’s about loving ourselves and others, which is the only thing that continously and infinitely propels us forward” 🙂