Tonight I have no idea what I’m grateful for, at least not right this minute. I am grateful for small things today–like sleeping in until almost 9 o’clock this morning. It’s the first time I can remember getting eight hours of sleep in a long while. I will not repeat that tomorrow morning–I really don’t like starting a morning as “late” as I did this morning–but for today it was luxurious. Of course that crunched the rest of my time today: I finished writing in my journal around 10 and didn’t eat “breakfast” until after 11. Then I took my son to work at 1 and my daughter clothes shopping for the rest of the afternoon. The day fairly flew by. I did some work on a contract project I’ve been working on for about a week and before I knew it, it was almost 8 o’clock. By and large, though, it’s been a pretty good day.
I’m grateful too for my new mini-action I’ve begun taking recently. I recently read an article about how making small changes or taking really tiny steps toward a goal often gets us ready to make more significant changes overall. “The number one mistake people make is not going tiny enough,” says B.J. Fogg, a researcher at Stanford University. “If you’re trying to ma a change in your life, you need to add something to your routine that is smaller than small, smaller than tiny, something that is minuscule, that takes almost no effort and als almost no time.” (You can read the article on the subject of making changes in your life at Oprah.com.) My mini-action is that I’ve started smiling on purpose, every day. Even when I feel emotionally atrocious, I break into a big, cheesy grin early and several times throughout the day. And, as ridiculous as it might feel at first, I can almost always feel an instantaneous change in my mood; sometimes it’s a larger shift than others, but it is always perceptible. So I make sure to smile every day. While I’m working my way up to laughing on purpose, for I’ll keep working on smiling. There’s all kinds of research about the health benefits of smiling and laughing. I for one am planning on experimenting with all of it as part of my pro-wellbeing regimen (I’m calling it that rather than my “anti-depression” plan. I’d rather be pro what I want than anti what I don’t want…a small but important distinction, I believe.)
Another part of my pro-wellbeing plan is to spend a few moments playing with and patting my dog. She’s a sweet pup and it definitely benefits each of us for me to stroke her soft fur, smooth her ears, and rub her belly, as well as throw the ball for her, play tug with her favorite bone, and otherwise engage in a few minutes of play. I am grateful to have Honor. At times I have not wanted to be responsible for one more living being–taking care of myself and my two kids was quite enough. But I’m glad to have included two canines in the last 16 years or so–first Shiloh, who died five years ago at age 11, and now Honor, who we guess is somewhere around six years old. It is true that we humans can learn a lot about unconditional love from dogs. I appreciate having a canine friend in my life.
I started out this evening’s blog not at all sure what I was grateful for, and I’ve still managed to write about just a few things this evening. The list of things I’m grateful to have in my life, even when I don’t focus on these in a given night, always includes these things: my children, who are life and breath to me, my siblings who are likewise the most important blessings in my life, and my friends scattered around the country and world, are right at the top. There are many, many other things–many of which I have written about over these nearly 11 months of gratitude blogs. I will keep writing about them too, even at the risk of being repetitive at times. And my continued thanks to each of you who read this blog and journey with me as I walk the path. May you know happiness and the source of happiness. So may we all!
