Moment by moment
Gratitude, my attitude
Let’s carve the turkey.
A few months ago, my wife gave me a little book, Good Days Start with Gratitude. It’s a journal. In case you’re wondering if she was giving me a subtle hint about one of my many character defects, I asked her for the book. That’s because she was already utilizing her own. Watching her writing in it, I was curious, and I asked for my own, not wanting to be left out.
Now we share our journal entry’s together each morning. It’s made me more aware of my ability to overlook and forget the beauty surrounding me. When we share, we inevitably want to add to the three lines the journal has for each day. Our gratitude list invariably multiplies in the sharing, and once we get started, three never seems enough for our list.
I’ve also found that the best time for me to write my three entries is at night. It’s incredible how much of the previous day’s details disappear in one night’s sleep. It reminds me that in addition to the pandemic we are in, another is rampant. As John Eldridge said before the arrival of COVID-19, “forgetfulness is a spiritual pandemic ravaging humanity.”
All of this has served to compel me to look around and be more aware. My gratitude list abounds: from my grandchildren’s prayers, to the meal with our immediate family, to a good night’s rest, to the brilliant stars or the first peek at sunrise, to a note from a kind person. I could go on and on. Every day is replete with moments for which I can be grateful.
I am grateful this journal came during the COVID crisis because Lord knows there are plenty of reasons to grumble. People are on edge; nerves are frayed; many are suffering from pandemic fatigue.
Being grateful can calm your restless soul. The results of one study, for example, suggest that writing about how grateful you are can enhance your mental health by shifting your focus away from toxic emotions like resentment and envy. Moreover, the mental health benefits of putting our gratitude on paper appear to increase the longer we practice them. It seems that an attitude of gratitude can become a healthy habit. The researchers wondered how: “Perhaps the gratitude letter writers discussed what they wrote in their letters with their counselors or with others. These conversations may have reinforced the psychological benefits derived from the gratitude writing itself.”
We can grumble through this pandemic, or we can look for the positive. Reasons for gratitude are everywhere.
I read about a grade school teacher who asked her students to list what they believed were the Seven Wonders of the World. A few minutes later, they turned in their answers. The teacher listed the answers in order of what the students thought were the most popular. The list went like this: The Great Pyramids, The Grand Canyon, The Great Wall of China, The Panama Canal, The Taj Mahal, The Empire State Building, St. Peter’s Basilica.
Then the teacher noticed one little girl who had failed to turn in her assignment; she was still struggling with it. So, the teacher went to her directly and asked her what she had put down for her answer.
“There are so many wonders,” she said, “I just can’t decide.”
“Well, tell me what you have, and maybe we can help you.”
“Okay,” the girl said, “here goes: I think the Seven Wonders of the World are to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to feel, to laugh, and to love.”
The classroom was completely quiet; you could have heard a pin drop. The teacher realized that the little girl didn’t need help from the class; it was the class, including the teacher, who needed help from the little girl.
We take the real wonders of the world for granted every day.
And you, dear reader, are one of them.