From My Perspective: Gratitude Changes Things

Over the past several weeks, there has been something missing in my day-to-day life. Not a person, not a place, not even something to be bought. My heart was feeling heavy, and trouble seemed to be around every corner. I found myself getting frustrated easier, sharp words coming more quickly, and the judgmental side of me in overdrive.

I’m normally a pretty happy person, but glancing back at the past few weeks, possibly even the past couple of months, I can see clearly now, I wasn’t.

I had a lot of time while traveling this past week to really look within. There’s nothing like a 12-hour drive (each way) to give someone the time they need to contemplate lots of things. When those thoughts became negative, I lost myself in a favorite audiobook with characters that bring me right into their world, make me smile, and believe it or not, helped me realize what my past few weeks have been missing. Quite simply, what was missing was gratitude.

I realize, from very personal experiences how difficult it is to be grateful when you’re in the middle of something not pleasant or, in my case, in pain. It’s also easy to slip back into old ways.

I regularly kept a “Gratitude Journal” in the past. I picked it up for the first time in a REALLY long time this past weekend. Some of you may have seen me write about my gratitude journal at some point int the past. The premise is this… begin each day writing ten things you are grateful for, because the more you are grateful for the more there will be to be grateful for.

When I first began a gratitude journal, I was working for someone I disliked, living in a place I disliked, and my finances were, let’s say, extremely embarrassing. My first lists in a gratitude journal were difficult to write with so much negative in my life. I wrote things like “I’m grateful I got paid,” or “I’m grateful I survived another day.”

Looking back at the last time I wrote in a journal about things to be grateful for, the items below made the list several times. I now consider them my “Top Five,” because no matter how negative things seems, this list reminds me not everything is bad, and it cracks my heart open a little and gives me reasons to smile.

I am grateful for my family and friends, especially my children who remind me every day how lucky and blessed I am because I’m a mother. I wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, and they are not only a true miracle, but the very biggest blessing in my life.

I am lucky and grateful to call our little cabin in the woods, Lincoln, and Montana home. And I’m forever grateful my dad recognized how good this place would be for me when he brought me here all those years ago.

I am grateful for every moment that lead me to this moment in my life. Every moment matters, every choice moved me closer to the things I desire and am meant to, or want to, be doing. If I hadn’t lived the life I’d lived so far, I wouldn’t be doing something I truly enjoy more than anything (teaching, writing, and hopefully making a difference).

I’m grateful for all of the animals who have been a part of my life, whether long-term or fosters, along with my years working in animal shelters and veterinary hospitals. Each animal, each experience truly had lessons to teach me; lessons in love, in letting go, in getting second chances, and bringing people into my life I would have never met otherwise.

I’m grateful for my home, my job (or jobs), the food I eat, the vehicles I drive, my health, my happiness and all the people who contribute to this life I live. All these things make me feel thankful each day for everything.

There is a quote from Melody Beattie that hangs on a wall in my studio: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

It’s my reminder, or had been my reminder to start each day with a grateful heart, because it hung in a prominent place where I would see it each day. The problem was, I didn’t see it because I’d felt so busy doing other things that I wasn’t in my studio as often as I normally would be.

I made a decision over this weekend that I would begin my gratitude journal again, and spend more time in my studio. I’ve already noticed a change in my attitude. I’ve noticed the shift in my behavior, and the release of stress and negativity. I have some work to do, and I know it. I also have more things to be grateful for than I can possibly ever acknowledge.

There’s enough chaos and negativity in the world to make anyone angry, unhappy, or feel despair.

If you’re experiencing negativity, a heavy heart, a short fuse, maybe try tuning the world out for a bit and start your own gratitude journal, because gratitude really can, and does change things.