An Attitude of Gratitude

It is the theme of Gratitude this month at The Creation Experiment and so I thought I would write a little bit about this subject.

On reflection, I feel I have not always been grateful enough for all that I have in my life and I find that as I grow older, I am much more appreciative of all my blessings, the people, family, friends, my home – the list goes on. My mother has always been a hugely grateful and expressive person and now that I am older, I appreciate her so much more but as a young girl I used to become somewhat irritated at the way she would stop in her tracks to admire someone’s garden or the sight of something that held her in rapture. I was just too embarrassed for words as she exchanged a word with whoever concerned. I did not know anyone else that behaved in this way. I have to say though that my mother was not always so grateful when in receipt of a gift from her children. She hated that we spent money on her. That was painful.

Now that I have little wrinkles appearing in my own face (some not so little), I notice the wonder of much more around me and I find myself behaving in ways just like my mother.

This blog is in danger of sounding a tad corny but I find that when I do take the time to complement someone or something about them – people usually always respond well and with gratitude and this in turn is a very pleasurable and uplifting experience for me.

I am a person who is usually upbeat, talkative and joyful; however, 2 years ago I went through a rather dark cloud for about a year. I was very low. I am not really sure what that was all about – time of life maybe? I searched for holistic ways to help myself get back and through to and in touch with my old self, I started exercising regularly – not too much mind, just a little and I drank less alcohol. These things helped me but what was to be much more powerful and what really turned everything around for me was a little experiment I heard about. I will share it with you.

Each night as my head hit the pillow I would consciously recall 6 things that had happened to me that day for which I was grateful. I practiced this every night continuously – sometimes I would become so moved by the smallest of my gratitudes that tears would flow. This simple exercise, in a relatively short space of time, quite turned me around –incredibly. For this I am truly grateful and I now share this exercise with everyone who is in need of an uplift and wants to hear it.