Gratitude

Lately, with everything in my life so upside down and backwards, I've been trying to focus on the positive.  For me, this means spending lots of time in moments of gratitude.

This may be partially due to the fact that I'm currently reading "The Secret" which part of me wants to think is mumbo jumbo and the other part of me wants it to be true.  Who the hell knows.

So in the morning, while I brush my teeth I spend the time finding a few things to be thankful for.  While I drive to work, I remind myself of more things I am grateful for.  Sometimes even throughout my day, I'm doing this as well.  It helps me to relax and to not stress over the little things.  I'm findi ng that I'm not as easily agitated, which is nice.

Obviously, the things that I'm grateful for depend on the moment or the day, but there are some solid consistencies.  Lately, the constants on my gratitude list seem to be:

• Meadow.  She's so sweet and caring, funny and talkative, smart and sassy.  She's just a joy most of the time, even if I do complain on here.  :)
• My husband.  We have our ups and downs, just like everyone else, but we've been through a lot together and I sincerely hope we have it in us to remain a strong team.
• My vision.  Yes, I've lost a lot of my lower vision and peripheral vision due to my illness...but I can still see.  I can't imagine what life would be like without this gift.  I was also told at my recent visit to my Ophthalmologist this week that my Field of Vision Test shows that some of my peripheral is slowly getting better...which is fabulous since a month ago, I was told it was probably permanent since it hadn't changed by now.  I think the fact that they doubled my dose has a lot to do with this.
• My mother and father-in-law.  They've been GREAT with Meadow and I staying there for a month now.  I am really really grateful for this.  We are both already exhausted as it is with all the changes in our lives recently.  I can't imagine what we'd feel like if we were also spending 3+ hours in the car a day as well.
• My bestie.  We stay in constant contact...whether it's the internal IM system at work, email, texting, or a phone call...we're always chatting and filling each other in on life and all that goes with it.  I really don't know what in the world I'd do without here.  She's awesome and I'm so happy that we have each other to tackle the battles with.
• My health.  Staying with my mother-in-law has really opened my eyes in the way I look at the food I put in my body and the portion sizes that I eat.  She recently read Jillian Michael's book "Master Your Metabolism" and has slowly started to incorporate a lot of the things in the book into her home life...which means it's been incorporated into mine as well these days.  I can't even tell you how much better I feel since I've been eating less processed foods, less fast food, more fresh/raw foods, and when it's affordable, organics.  It's becoming easy for me to make smart choices when it comes to food and that's always been a battle for me.  That's not to say I'm behaving perfectly...I DEFINITELY still have my moments and even days where I veer off track. I just know that I'm feeling better health-wise and I'm feeling better about myself as well.  Can't really ask for more than that, can you?
• A good cup of coffee in the morning.  My mother-in-law has got me hooked on this coffee that they sell at her work (Costco).  She's even gotten me unhooked from the Fat Free French Vanilla Coffeemate creamer that I normally can't live without.  Instead, we're using half & half and sugar in the raw.  It's divine.

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On a daily basis, I receive an inspirational email from beliefnet.com.  I've been getting this email for years and I go long periods of just deleting them, and then I'll start reading them again.  I recently starting to pay attention to my daily inspiration emails and today, the email had about 25 quotes about gratitude in it.  I found some of them to be very inspiring and quite fitting for me these days so I thought I'd share them here.  I'm kind of a quote collector as it is, so forgive me if this is too many. LOL

"Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving." ~ Kahlil Gibran

"Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only to survive but surmount our difficulties." ~ Sara Ban Breathnach

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." ~ Buddha

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasurers." ~ Thornton Wilder

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So there you have it.  Now you know what I'm most thankful for these days.  What about you?  What is it that you are grateful for at the moment?

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♪♫♪ Currently listening to ♪♫♪

Coffee Shop by Landon Pigg