Things I Love Thursday -- Gratitude

I am so thankful for your love, Love Pig

Do you guys practice gratitude?

I've done it on and off for several years. It's really a good feeling when you sit down and think "look at all these things that I am thankful for" and you think about why, and you realize how amazing and blessed your life can be. Even if your life is crap. 

That's when I would usually think about gratitude, when my life was crap. Of course at that time you want to change your life around, but the importance of gratitude is that it forces you to find those little good things among all the bad and trying stuff. It's not about wishing good into existence, it's about discovering and being thankful for the good that you have, even if it's tiny.

So this goes on for several years.

I do meditating in May, and it changes my thinking. 

This past week, all sorts of stress came down on me. I had a paper due. I had a huge project come to completion. I had a medical incident. Oh yeah, and I'm leaving for France in 3 days and I haven't even cracked my suitcase yet.

I was at the bookstore, shopping for travel guides, which were hidden in the back. I perused all the other sections, and ended up buying not a travel guide, but The Magic by Rhonda Byrne, who wrote The Secret (which I have also read, but do not own). 

It's not important so much to go into what you or I think about all this "woo-woo magical thinking", because you think what you want and I think what I want, and if you don't know what you think, there are heaps of resources out there for you and you can judge for yourself.

The Magic is about magical thinking, of course, but what drew me to it was that it's a 28-day course on gratitude. 28 days of practicing guided gratitude. Gratitude is magical, it's magical how it can spin your mood around. It's incredible. When I write my list of things I'm thankful for, when I say "thank you" for the blessings of good health and a parent who cooks for me and for the great book I'm reading (The Rook - more about that in another post), I feel a physical tingle of happiness. 

When I write these lists of things I love, what I'm really writing is my big, juicy THANK YOU to the world and to you for blessing me with these precious things in my life. 

So here's the past week: the things I love, and am grateful for.

♥ My paper. I had the guts and the brains and the heart to finish that sucker. I'm so happy and thankful that the information was there for me, that my professors allowed me to extend the deadline a bit, and that it all came together in the end. And for everyone who cheered me along as I was working!

♥ I'm grateful for the roses that I bought that cheered me up the whole time I was writing.

♥ The support of my amazing friends, even when I screw up or make an ass of myself, or when I'm sad or unsure, or scared or worried or in difficulty. They are there, and I am grateful because I couldn't do it alone! Well I could, but it would be ever harder.

♥ Hot glue. Hot glue solves ever problem imaginable. Also, friends who also have hot glue finger burns, and understand when you hot glue yourself into your clothes, or who help you put your clothes on when you hot glue your clothes a size smaller.

♥ My upcoming trip to France! Thank you to my darling cute friend who has done so much work on the organizational side of things, who is going to be my partner in crime and my support (and I will be hers!) overseas. Again: it's better with two.

♥ All medical staffs and modern medicine. It heals us when we're troubled and sick, and keeps our bodies healthy.

♥ My health! I'm so happy and grateful for having good health, especially before traveling.

♥ My boobs. I dunno, they're just kind of awesome. I always think they're awesome, and I am grateful for their awesomeness.

♥ Skype! I'm so thankful that I can chat with people around the world, basically any time.

♥ Emails from friends and helpful people.

♥ Good news from friends! My best friend had some great news to share with me this week, and I am so happy and grateful for her, and that things are going well for her!! I'm honored to have been kept up to date with all her hard work.

♥ Sassy new music on my iTunes. It's time for dancing! I'm thankful for my strong dancing body, and the groovy music I got, and the ears I have to hear it!


What do you love? What loves you?
What are you thankful for?
Do you feel a shiver when you think about how lucky you can be?
Remember that I love you! And I am grateful for you, reading this, and thinking about all the things you adore!