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Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Gratitude Attitude - 9/11/08

1. Dates to remind me of significant events
2. Occasional remission of my eczema (today being one of those occasions)
3. Hot showers
4. Band-aids
5. My sensitive husband
6. Freedom from tyranny
7. Earth's edible offspring
8. The color grey
9. Increased self-control
10. My hooligan boys
11. Naps
12. Modern invention (i.e. waffle maker)
13. The return of Wednesday nights with the high school band
14. Sweet forgiveness
15. Girlfriends and movie nights
16. A book that can bring me to my knees in humility and in gratitude for the abundance in my life (The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver)

You know, when I first did this yesterday, I thought to myself, "Now here's something I should do every day - just list ten things I'm grateful for." However, today when I tried to limit myself to ten, I had serious problems trying to eliminate some blessings. So then I thought to myself, "Self, why are you trying to eliminate blessings from your gratitude list? That's absurd." And so, at the risk of boring my journal readers, I'm actually going to try to list each day all the things that I'm feeling thankful for that day. I've already felt myself drifting away from my tendency to be a victim, moving toward embracing a new, empowered, productive and humble me. Try it. You may be surprised at the change a little vocalized gratitude brings to your life outlook.

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