Facing the New Year with Gratitude

When I woke up this morning, I looked through the blinds to find out that it had been raining. I immediately found myself saying “Thank you” as I knew how much we needed it and I was so grateful to watch this gift for awhile. Then I started musing about that “Thank you”.

“Every time that I thank someone for whatever kindness they may have done for me or every time that someone appreciates what I have done for them, there is a feeling of gratitude toward one another that is indescribable“Barbara Jacoby

I realized that it was directed to God and that somewhere along the line I had gotten into the habit each day of thanking God for all of the wonderful things that have come my way. In fact, in my daily prayers I find that I thank Him for everything that he has done for me (and Kirk, and family, etc.), for everything that He is now doing and for everything that he will do.

I don’t remember exactly when I started doing that. I know that someone had told me to do it and at the time it felt right, so, I did it. And as I thought about it today, I remember that over the years, whenever something wonderful came my way, I felt such a high level of elation as I thanked Him for so many things. I realized that I had also slipped into this habit in my daily life on just about every level.

For example, if someone cut me off while driving, I thanked Him for keeping me from getting into an accident. That helped me because I was using my energy in that manner rather than getting pissed off at the driver who cut me off. Or when I got some wonderful news about something, my thoughts went immediately to that ever present “Thank you”. Often I actually feel like I am jumping up and down on the inside and I just can’t stop smiling.

Now as I reflect on it, I find that the more that I got into the habit of saying “Thank you” out loud or in my thoughts, I realized that the gratitude I felt would make me feel so happy. Heck, I was so grateful for so many things in my life that it seemed like I was pretty much happy all of the time. When I get bad news, rather than getting upset and feeling sorry for myself , I just ask myself – what am I supposed to learn from that – and stay in that mindset for a period of time. By doing this, I find that  this “bad” news may not be so bad.

I find that this exercise of positive thinking works best when whatever is occurring is happening to me. I am the one who can create the reasons why a particular situation is something for which I am grateful and I am the one who can translate that gratitude into something positive that, in turn, is something that will make me create happiness for myself. And by the same token, I wish that somehow I could find the way to show this process to others. Perhaps that is what I am hoping to accomplish by these writings.

I have so many wonderful people around me. I wish that there was a manual that I could write that would teach everyone how to create this happiness. So far, the best that I have been able to do is to live my life in a way that hopefully will serve as a good example to others in knowing that happiness is something that we can all own and to share my positive outlook with others so that they can see what a difference it makes.

Every time that I thank someone for whatever kindness they may have done for me or every time that someone appreciates what I have done for them, there is a feeling of gratitude toward one another that is indescribable. And the more that I create that gratitude in my life, the more I create happiness. Seems like a pretty interesting habit to get into if you ask me and I sincerely hope that you will join me in your efforts to do the same.