Gratitude

I try to live my life with gratitude. It’s what I believe from my core. When I wake up in the morning I visualize all the things I am grateful for. Sometimes the list is very, very long. Sometimes it’s a little shorter, but some of my gratefulness is always the same. I am grateful for the life I have, I am grateful that I awake in a beautiful bed and can look out my bedroom window, I am grateful for my husband, I am grateful for my dogs, I am grateful for my beautiful home that I share with my husband and dogs, I am grateful for every day of my life I can be active and mobile, I am grateful that I have wonderful inlaws and a mother that is still in my life, I am grateful that I have a job that I love, I am grateful that I am learning new things, I am grateful about so many, many things.

When I am feeling down or a little blue, these and many other things I am grateful for remind me to put one foot in front of the other and live the life I’m meant to live.

I subscribe to a daily message from Zen Habits, and here is an excerpt from
yesterday’s message:

I believe that a key part of that lifestyle is gratitude, the habit of practicing gratefulness. Breaking the word down a bit further thanks to the ever-convenient Dictionary.com, gratitude means:
an appreciative attitude for what one has received a warm or deep appreciation of personal kindness
a disposition to express gratefulness by giving thanks

I like all three of these definitions for different reasons. I think gratitude also relates to a full life spent in awareness of all the good things that surround us. You see, fellow Zen Habits readers, we are all incredibly rich. If you have access to a computer and are able to read this essay, you’re already doing pretty well compared to half of the world. And by making a commitment to improve our lives, us productivity freaks are also more focused on “getting the right things done” than most of our peers.
More than anything else, I want to avoid ambling through life without a sense of awareness and purpose. To make that happen, I’ve decided that I want gratefulness to be one of my core values. In other words, I want to create a life of gratitude…

If you’re interested, join me in creating a life of gratitude. You can sign up to Zen Habits if you like and participate there, or do it quietly; or if you wish, join me and share your thoughts with me.

The above photo is the final piece I did for my very first art class with Paulette Insall. If you have any interest in art check out her site. The words say "The joy of Being is true happiness and thus is who you are." Oh! If anyone can help me with improving the butterfly I’m interested in hearing it. The head & antenna are “bugging” me :). By the way, this is the first time I've attempted to draw or paint a butterfly, so I'm a true amateur.