And all good things are yours
I try to make gratitude a habit: to write down the things that I’m grateful for in a notebook and tell the people I love that I love them and to send thank-you notes in the mail. I want to make it something of the everyday instead of just a holiday.
I’m grateful for my boyfriend, my family and my set of girlfriends who support me and encourage me and regularly make me laugh uncontrollably. I’m grateful for my apartment tucked away in a courtyard that’s an oasis of order and calm in a chaotic city. I’m grateful that I have a job and that my bills are paid and that I have a savings account. I’m grateful that I realize that my “problems” are lucky problems to have, ones that are generally easily solved with the resources I have. I’m grateful for a body that moves and a mind that works. I’m grateful for the insane amount of travel I’ve been able to do in the last 26 years, and the all of the adventures, opportunities, memories and friendships that have resulted. I’m grateful that I can appreciate a colorful mural, a latte in a sun-drenched coffee shop, my little herb garden growing under my bedroom window.
The thing about having an attitude of gratitude (Sunday School throwback!) is that often begets more gratitude, and more things to be grateful for. Recognizing our own good fortune and then expecting prosperity makes it easier to create.
There’s a Swedish proverb I adore for its simplicity. And to some extent, it feels like a natural outpouring of gratitude: a message of thanks for all we have, and an enduring belief in the goodness to come.
Fear less, hope more.
Eat less, chew more.
Whine less, breathe more.
Talk less, say more.
Hate less, love more.
…and all good things are yours.
Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving week! What are you grateful for this year?
