An Attitude of Gratitude

I know we’ve all heard this phrase thrown about. You need to have an attitude of gratitude, they say. I’m still trying to figure out who “they” are.  I’ve always thought of myself as a grateful person.  Every night when I go to sleep I thank the good Lord above for all the blessings in my life.  What I’ve discovered, in the last few days though, is that my attitude of gratitude needs an attitude adjustment.

It’s easy to be grateful when everything is going well in your life.  But, as I’ve discovered recently, it’s much harder to do this when things aren’t exactly going your way.  So, I’m on a road to gratitude.  I’ve been sad lately over something I have no control over and I’ve noticed a really big change in my attitude.  Suddenly, my well of gratefulness has run dry.  I’m pissed.  And I’m pissed that I’m pissed.  I have been truly blessed in this life and for me to feel ungrateful for even a second is unacceptable.

So, here we go…..why I’m grateful .

• I get to put my feet down on real hardwood every morning and it will be paid for in 30 years 🙂
• My children wake me up every morning either laughing at each other or Jane is screaming at Maddie.   Either way – they’re healthy and happy
• Coffee….don’t need to say anything else about that
•  The view from my front porch
• The view from my front porch looking in
• My dogs who act like I’ve been gone for 10 years when I come back from getting the mail
• The sound of the gravel underneath my feet when I take the puppies for a walk
• Facebook…seriously.  It has put me back in contact with friends that I made a lifetime ago and will continue to be friends with  for a lifetime
• Phineas and Ferb….makes me laugh
• While we’re at it…Ghost Hunters, Dance Moms and General Hospital too!  That’s right…I’m grateful for trash tv.
• My sister.  The first person I want to call when something happens to me…sad, mad, glad, happy, angry, funny.  Doesn’t matter. She gets called first.
• Friends who will reach out to me even when I tell them I can’t talk about it.  They care too much not to talk about it.
• My grandmother and the 27 years I got to spend with her.  She would say, “Are you behaving yourself?”  I would say, “No.” She would say, “Good.  You’ll never have any fun that way.”
• My family. All of them.
• The way a baby smells after a bath.
• My girlfriends, whom I have no doubt that if I woke up in a jail cell, they would be sitting next to me…smiling.
• Dance.  I may not be able to kick my leg as high or turn as much or tap as fast but it’s the best way to get me out of a bad mood.
• Warm nights, campfires, marshmallows and stars
• The beach.
• Chocolate and raspberry in any combination.
• Wine and Malibu rum….yes, I’m grateful for that.
• My husband.  He’s a saint of a man for putting up with me sometimes.  He can always make me feel like I’m the sweetest, funniest, most intelligent, sexiest woman in the room
• The great Lord above…for giving me a faith that sustains me through the hard times and for blessing me with all of the above

I could probably sit here all day and do this. When I’m feeling sad I will remember that it is not happiness that makes me grateful, but gratefulness that makes me happy.  So, when I wake in the morning, I will simply say to myself, “Go forth with a grateful heart.”