The Gratitude Experiment

Although it's not quite April, I'm beginning early.

What am I grateful for?

I used to have a really hard time expressing my gratitude but as I've grown up, matured is another way to put it, I've been forced/encouraged to embrace the concept of gratitude as being more than just saying "Thank you."

So, as of today, just before midnight on March 30th, I have many things to be grateful for. Here is today's five.

1. My health.

This is not a cop-out and not one that I will list every day even though it is at the top of my list every day. I find myself more and more knowing people close to me and not that are suffering from some sort of health problem.

The next time I complain that I'm tired, I should just be shown pictures of the many people who didn't even get a chance to sleep the night before. Tough love people, tough love.

2. My friends.

I am horrible at socializing. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration but I am really horrible about being the social butterfly that I secretly enjoy being. I have just gotten myself to the point where I almost feel guilty going out and acting my age when there is just so much out there that needs to be done, solved, helped, etc. Someone remind me that I am not and never will be Supergirl.

Despite all of that, my friends still love and support me. In fact, sometimes they encourage me. Not often, but often enough.

3. My mom.

This is a no-brainer. I am so grateful for her for so many reasons. Today is because she has a lap-top computer that has cookies enabled. I was silly enough to disable the cookies thing on my own computer and now cannot remember how to turn them back on. Hence, I cannot even get to my blog on my own computer.

Silly really. I think I outsmarted myself. I still need to get some writing done, so I'm really grateful that she had the foresight to buy herself a lap-top for the kitchen in the hopes of being able to just pull up the cool recipes she sees on Food Network TV and make them, rather than just paying computer games...

4. My dog.

Even though she has been cranky lately and I know that I push her sometimes into doing things that she might not want to do. Seriously though, just how much can one dog sleep?

She helps keep me in the moment. She demands attention and she doesn't care that I'm in the middle of something that I might deem as "important" because she's really the smarter one.

I can only think about the here and now with her. If I don't, she leaves me a present. You do the math.

5. Patience

I say patience but I mean it in a way that is mostly used with myself. I can't say that I always want instant gratification, but usually I do. I know that I can be patient with my clients, my co-workers, my family and friends, but the minute you ask me to be patient with myself, it becomes close to impossible.

Why?

I could not give you a reasonable answer right now, but I'm working on it. I'm learning to take the patience that I have for everyone else and reflect back onto myself. I am so grateful for that lesson.


I could go on and on but then what would I have for the month of April?

This is just the beginning of my point. If we just sat down and thought about it, we could all very easily find 5 things per day that we are grateful for. We could potentially find 10 or 20 things every day. We, however, are programmed to not acknowledge the good in our lives. It's almost like if we see all the good and acknowledge it, then it will no longer be there. Almost like if we admit that our lives are better than we say they are, then we have no chance of ever getting back to that goodness. Make sense?

If not, then just wait for tomorrow.