"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."
We are fickle creatures, often forgetful and blind to what is right under our noses. I know, because I am one of those creatures. I think about how many times it says in the scriptures something to the effect of, "how could you forget?"
"Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life" - OT
I tried to keep a gratitude journal in the year I first read this book. I wrote 15 days consistently before I started skipping days. Then I skipped a few months, and then I started again but I only got maybe 5 days a month or less. I thought it was hard to do, but then, it was also hard to see myself and that I couldn't make myself do it.
So this is the year.
"The gratitude journal has to be the first step on the Simple Abundance path or it just won't work for you...If you want to travel this journey with me, the gratitude journal is not an option."
It is a requirement.
One of the reasons I found it hard was because I had three little babies, and learning how to be happy and grateful for all the poop and spit up and laundry and rice cereal and baby food all over the place and looking like a hobo AND writing down five of those things that I was grateful for seemed too hard at the time. This was 2015, and by March of 2016 I was back on anti-depressants...which now looking back on my state of mind I can see that I was depressed...and in major denial.
"Real life isn't always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgment of what IS working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties."
One of my favorite things that Sarah taught me is that
"it is in the smallest details that the flavor of life is savored."
She tells us to go and get a beautiful journal, and pretty writing utensils, and at first I thought this was bull. But then I started to really pay attention. When a home is inviting and decorated nicely (and clean) you feel comfortable and want to go inside. When we pick school supplies, remember how happy we got to pick cool binders and folders, and pretty notebooks? When something is pretty and you really like it, you are drawn to it. It's easier to write in a pretty journal (and one that fits what you like) than an ugly journal (someone's ugly is someone else's pretty).
"As the months pass and you fill your journal with blessings, an inner shift in your reality will occur. Soon you will be delighted to discover how content and hopeful you are feeling...This sense of fulfillment is gratitude at work, transforming your dreams into reality."
So here it goes. Somethings will be too personal to share, so I'll keep those to my personal journal, but in order to keep me accountable I'm going to put 5 things that I'm grateful for at the end of each post.
***
1) Productive yet fun weekends with Robbie and the kids.
2) I love how handy Robbie is and is teaching me to be. We have a beautiful table and chairs from Robbie's Grandma who passed away. They are old, well made, but old. Every once in awhile the chairs need to be re screwed and re glued back together. Jacob was watching Robbie do this and I came up to watch too, and said "When something breaks we try and fix it instead of just throwing it away and buying something new. Isn't it cool that Daddy can do that?"
3) We finally finished cleaning the carpets. Robbie's parents lent us their Rainbow Vacuum and it is seriously the best thing ever. I knew my carpets were dirty, it's been more than a year since we moved in and that was the last time they were cleaned. The amount of dirt that I saw come up out of the carpet was amazing. I can't adequately describe the feeling of joy that I had when we could put the vacuum away to give back to them and I knew my carpets were clean.
4) Robbie doesn't want to store the dvd bookcase in the garage, so in a couple weeks we're going to start the project. Close up the wall and cut out the space where the harry potter cupboard is going to be. But we won't put a door in yet, the kids will just break it. And we won't open up the rest of the space through the closet, one step at a time. Don't ask me where the changing station is going to go...
5) My parents texted us randomly around 4 asking if they could kidnap Chase for the weekend. We said heck yes! Then they asked if they could bring diner, and I thought I was going to cry. Thanks mom and dad, I didn't have to make dinner and now I just have 2 kids to take care of for the next 2 days.
***
Tomorrow is Sunday, so I hope that Monday or the next time you go run errands you'll pick out a gratitude journal (if you don't have one already).
What do you have to lose?
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