ON GRATITUDE

There's one thing I know for sure. Gratitude is necessary and universally positive. It not only effects the people or things you show gratitude towards. It effects you on a such a monumental scale that to not have it is to be surely unhappy. And I find for my own life once I find gratitude in the simplest things like a sunny day, waking up, or a cup of coffee it shifted my entire life.

If someone said what is something I can change right now that will change my entire life for the better? I would say find your gratitude. Be thankful. 

And I'm very good at gratitude. But only because I've been working on it. I don't think it's engrained in most people to wake up and think "WOW I'm so happy I'm alive for another day, just think of all the things I can do!" It's a muscle and it has to be trained. Just like going to the gym.

But I did that. Being thankful for little things is only the beginning though. Then there's having gratitude for things that people do for you. Strangers, friends, co-workers. You just can't believe that someone paid for your toll bridge fare.

There's one HUGE area of gratitude I skipped. 

It's for my own mom. See I'm very good at finding what drives me up the wall about her. Or what she should be doing differently. But I'm not so good at having gratitude for how hard she worked to raise me, feed me, send me to school and have a roof over my head. Because I don't think about those times anymore. Hell, I don't even remember those times.

But it doesn't mean they didn't happen. It doesn't mean she wasn't up all night with me not sleeping and then going to work her three jobs. It doesn't mean she didn't have a homemade breakfast, dinner and lunch on the table for us everyday. It doesn't mean that she didn't bend over backwards to send me to a montessori school in San Francisco. It doesn't mean that just because we were dirt poor we didn't still wear fancy clothes even if everything was from Goodwill. But how easy I forget?

When I went up to my moms recently I was overwhelmed with guilt. Because here I am building my life with my own family and not even seriously thinking about if she needs anything from me. Only seeing my mom two times a year because I thought, well she never comes down to see us. But really...she's my mother and she has sacrificed enough. Couldn't I find it in my time to make that trip once a month?

And couldn't I help her out and pay a utility bill? Or hire a maid to come once a month so she doesn't have to clean? Maybe bring her groceries everytime we come up to see her? Just the smallest things to do, to let her know that I not only appreciate everything she did but that I love her dearly.

So after talking to her about what we can do to help. She decided that she would love my help on redecorating her house. Because she works 14 hours days six days a week and she doesn't have time. And it's right up my alley so I'm excited.

Have you thought about being grateful lately? Have you acted on it?