Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the voice of Natalie Merchant. I am also grateful for the convenience of a washer and dryer right down in our basement to make doing laundry easy. What's your ringtone on your cell phone? Maybe you have several and know who is calling based on the song that comes on. I keep it basic. One ringtone for all. My first cell phone had Loverboy's "The Kid is Hot Tonite" as my ringtone for years. That was partly because I didn't know how to change it after my step-son put it on there for me, but also partly because I have always liked that song and it's ability to transport me back in time. My next ringtone has also been longstanding, though I couldn't tell you how long. It is the song "Kind and Generous" by Natalie Merchant. (from her 1998 album Ophelia) That song meant a lot to me in 1998 when it came out. That was a big year for me: I got engaged, married, became a step-parent, moved to a different state, left a place I had...

Today I am grateful to be part of the "Voices of Hope" DVD project and to know that it has made a difference in the lives of breast cancer patients and their loved ones. I am also grateful for the faith I have in God, in my Higher Power. I am still a work in progress when it comes to my faith, but it is growing and I am feeling it. Faith helps me see that I am never alone and that I don't have to have all the answers. I do have a question today though. Why does gratitude become a more common topic only in November?  I get that Thanksgiving, the gratitude holiday, falls in November and that makes this month "gratitude month" to many. And to others it just makes Thanksgiving "gratitude day." And to still others, the gratitude gets lost in the busy pace, the stress of day-to-day stuff, the disappointments and the lack of hope. Gratitude should not be seasonal, should not be the focus of one holiday. Gratitude should be DAILY. The only way we can tru...

Today I am grateful for my earring selection and for sweat that brings endorphins. Today's post is about taking actions. That is what gratitude is about. Like anything worth doing, there is effort involved. How is your gratitude journal coming along? Just fine. Thanks for asking. I write in it every day, early in the morning. When is the last time you did an A-Z gratitude list? Just this morning when I was exercising and the other day when I was walking Oliver. How about a 3 x 3? How about doing one right now?  Sam, my son= his laugh, his imagination, the fact that he still wants me to read him a bedtime story This blog= a channel for my writing passion, an opportunity to learn more about gratitude, a way to meet others I wouldn't have met otherwise Cooler weather= less humidity, layers of clothes to feel warm in, my favorite hooded sweatshirt Written any gratitude letters lately? Just mailed out #12 and #13 in the last couple of weeks. The above are dir...

Today I am grateful for the first snowfall of the season and the chance to run in it. But I am glad it melted for now. I am also grateful for our dog Oliver and his reminders to me to slow down and take it easy each day. After sharing Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad's poem yesterday, I wanted to share one of my own today. I wrote "Keeping Perspective" between rounds 3 and 4 of chemotherapy. Most of my hair was gone. The effects of chemo were adding up. I was getting closer to my final surgery-bilateral mastectomy.But all in all, I was doing well and feeling plenty of gratitude. And humility. Cancer is humbling. Accepting help from others is humbling. We were getting weekly meals from co-workers as I went through chemo. They were very much appreciated, and they were very much a lesson in humility. Between the hair loss and the humbling experiences, this poem was flying around in my head. One day when I was at the gas station, it started to come out in lines. I took out a chec...

Today I am grateful for a comfy couch to snuggle on in the early morning hours. I am also grateful for the book Fine Black Lines: Reflections on Facing Cancer, Fear and Loneliness by Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad. I was first introduced to Lois's writing via a great blog I follow called Nancy's Point ( http://nancyspoint.com/ ) She wrote a guest blog post there, as did I a few weeks later. Her blog post was one I could relate to, being about why she chose not to have breast reconstruction. Lois is a poet, author, speaker, piano teacher, wife (of over 63 years), mother, grandmother. I ordered the book mentioned above and read one zinger of a poem after another. She's my kind of poet. Here is one of those zingers: Bed of Nails   if you lay a blanket of joy over everything   the spikes keep poking through   perhaps it would be better to flatten the points first   (Excerpted from Fine Black Lines , copyright 1993, 2003 Lois...

Today I am grateful to all of the veterans who have fought and worked to first gain and then preserve our freedom. Too many of us, me included, take that freedom for granted too often. Today I will try to appreciate that freedom as I go through my day. . . doing what I choose and feeling safe. I am also grateful for time with Arthur and Alyssa, a run with Darcy, and the hills on our running routes. I have always run on hills. The two farms I grew up on had hills. The river city I live in has hills.I like the challenge of hills, facing them with a "You aren't getting the better of me" attitude.Hills make good metaphors. Facing a cancer diagnosis, surgeries, and treatment was a series of hills to traverse. Not taking a drink when I really wanted the escape was a big hill to climb on many days. Practicing gratitude habitually can be an obstacle when self-pity slips in. Finding time to write in a busy day with many commitments seemed like a mountain at times, but has...

Today I am grateful for time with friends in recovery. They inspire me, sharing the wisdom they have gained from experience. They help me get through the next 24 hours. I am also grateful for safe travels for my stepson Arthur and his fiancee Alyssa, and for the time we got to spend together last evening and will have together today. Earlier this week I surpassed 200 blog posts. As a beginning blogger and long-time writer, I continue to appreciate this avenue for my writing passion. It has broadened and deepened my level of gratitude as I have put more thoughts into words and more ideas into actions. It has also given me a regular outlet as a writer. Even if my blog is the only writing I do on a given day, and it usually isn't, I have given that 15-20 minutes of my time to honor the writer in me. I did plenty of writing before I started blogging, but on too many days I would set out to give time to my writing, and then see the day slip away. Other commitments, other things th...