Can We Talk 2

Begin the Day With Gratitude

Day 2908: November 3, 2020
Prompt: “There is not a more pleasing exercise of the mind than gratitude. It is accompanied with such an inward satisfaction that the performance sufficiently rewards the duty.” – Joseph Addison



         Life coaches will tell you to start out every day with gratitude. No matter how old you are, thank God or your higher power you woke up again this morning. You have another day ahead of you which means another chance to get it right! Be thankful for the weather, or the birds chirping, or the nice warm house you're in.

         I'm always thankful to get into a bed with freshly laundered sheets! So many little things we take for granted, that we really could take time to feel gratitude for them. Hot coffee, fresh air, mother nature, moonlight. Listing our blessings lifts our spirits and prepares us to receive greater things.

         I recently read a book about two young women in Paris who were sent to a concentration camp; they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were tortured and starved, but were allowed to stay together. They constantly reminded themselves they were still alive and still together. They had nothing else for which to be grateful, but it helped them get through the nightmare.

         We can get through our own nightmares if we look for things that please us or make us thankful. The Karate kid used the mantra "The grass is green, and the sky is blue." In very difficult times in my life, when I felt like I had nothing for which to be grateful, I told myself, "the grass is green, and the sky is blue." It kept me from feeling so sorry for myself, and eventually, I could make the list longer.