Gratitude

For many decades, AA people have had gratitude as one of their slogans to live by. The bible says to be thankful in all things. This isn’t a new idea and one that is gaining favor in our current world.

            For more than 25 years I’ve had an ongoing practice of naming what I’m thankful for at various moments in my day. It was more formal and planned in the beginning. Today it is just what I do. The little moments in my day of gratitude are expressed with a smile and a whispered. Rain, a sunset, a little kid suddenly doing a twirl or picking their nose, trees turning green, a song I love, seeing eagles overhead or turkeys waddling across my yard – little things throughout my day. If I can’t sleep at night, I name things I’m thankful for in the moment – my warm bed, the dark and quiet, or things from my day – I have a job I love, I feel good, I got to read tonight, I repotted a plant, I shared fish and chips with my love.    It’s simple and life changing.

            Maybe gratitude changes my brain chemistry or raises my vibrational frequency – I enjoy thinking about those ideas. I believe saying “thank you” for big and small things, for the ordinary and profound, makes my life better. It can turn my thinking from negative and what’s wrong to what is alive and beautiful. The outward situation of physical or emotional pain may still be there; this may be my third round of sitting through this traffic, I still have to get up, I still have too much paperwork . . . . . . . . .

            In all those situations – right then and there – find a “thank you” and your life has its own rays of sunshine from the inside.