A new friend of mine wrote a post on her blog here recently in which she was slightly irritated with the sudden gratitude explosion that happens online right before Thanksgiving. She said, shouldn’t people be practicing gratitude all year round? I say yes but it’s all good. Any gratitude is good.
Me personally, I feel my fits and spurts of gratitude come and go. There are emotional seasons of joy and gratitude, and there are seasons of fear and disgruntlement. They can not exist at the same time together and each would be nothing without the other. All gratitude all the time isn’t really possible.
As I unpacked my groceries and ferreted away my Christmas gifts today, I meditated on what I was grateful for. I was thankful that I had a house to live in, food to eat, and a husband who can work to earn money to buy this food. I was thankful that I was gifted two lovely healthy smart children to feed. If they weren’t so picky, I’d be even more grateful.
I live in a country where I feel mostly certain that I can sleep safely without fear of someone breaking in, murdering, or doing worse to my beloved family in front of me. I’m a citizen of a country where, as a woman, I still get a chance to vote for the people who will run it and I make choices about my body. And I am a fully capable person who can walk down the street, seeing and thinking unhindered by injury or a military presence.
All of this brought me to the realization that the drama and the angst I often put myself through is so self-indulgent and pointless. I’m the one self-administering the blocks and the fear. I have a choice everyday to be bolder, truer, nicer, smarter, and kinder. And losing sight of that choice is the greatest injustice I can do to my freedom and myself. In choosing gratitude, I can also chose to let go and start again. And that realization is my biggest gratitude today.
If you enjoyed what you read, subscribe, via the subscription box in the sidebar, to my thrice weekly posts via your emailbox. And visit me on Instagram to see my daily pictures, friend me or like my page on Facebook. Or come find me on Twitter or Pinterest too. I am always practicing Intentional Intouchness so chat at me please. I live for conversations.
And, as always, Thanks to you for your visit.
2 Comments
Not losing sight of the choice to be grateful is a really good way to view it! Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours, Shalagh. I love that little look-back at summer play in the yard. xo
Oh Thank you, as always Dawn, you do say just the right things to make me know I did alright.