Gratitude
I pride myself in the fact that I am a generally happy, grateful and positive person. I try not to dwell on the things I have no control over. But like everyone else I am human and sometimes I allow the little things to take over me and bother me. I wake up tired and cranky and find fault with everything around me. This morning I was in one of those moods. The water in my shower wasn’t as hot as I wanted it to be, I didn’t like how my clothes were fitting me, my bangs were falling all wrong. Then it dawned on me. I have no reason to complain.
There is so much I have to be grateful for. I should be grateful that I have running water. I have a roof over my head and I am surrounded by four walls that keep me safe and protected. I have clothes on my back. I have my health. I have a refrigerator and pantry full of food. I have a job to wake up to and go to every morning. No matter how stressed out the job makes me. I am grateful that I have one. I am blessed with a beautiful, healthy family who loves and supports me, no matter what. I have amazing friends who accept me and love me for whom I am. It is silly to complain because my problems could be worse. We tend to lose perspective sometimes. Turn on the news or open a newspaper the next time you think your life is so terrible. Look at the unimaginable situation in Haiti. Think of all those people who may have lost their homes, their jobs or worse, lost their lives. Think of all the orphans in Haiti and around the world. This world is in so much peril that it is important to keep things in perspective and realize how lucky and blessed we are.
This is only a small portion of the things that I am grateful for. My list can go on for pages. Today I ask… what are you grateful for?
Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and confusion into clarity…. It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow. ~ Melodie Beattie
Shanni said,
January 19, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Jen,
Every morning I say my paryers on my way to work, and I say the three things I am grateful for that day. I am glad you too find things to be grateful for.
whitelotus01 said,
January 19, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Also on the news this morning the Haitians that are in NYC (on vaca or visiting friends or whatever) they are STRANDED here because there is no home for them to go to. No one knows what is to become of them, if they are going to become citizens of the US or if they will just go back down to Haiti when this is all over.
Good post though girlie, I think we all just need to take a step back and acknowledge that we have it pretty good at times. Even when it’s crappy it’s still pretty damn good. Now hopefully when I subscribe it will SAVE this time so I can get updates lol.
Megan Monique on Twitter is doing the 365 days of kindness for the year, perhaps you should try a 365 days of gratitude or something. Til the next post.