Whenever I post about gratitude, I ask what you’re grateful for. And I’m genuinely interested to know! I love to hear about the big and small blessings in your lives, and I wish more readers would take a moment to think of something and share, whether here in the comments or on the Facebook page. You may even be having a bad day (or week or month!), but it can give you an attitude adjustment to stop and recognize something good from your week. As Professor Robert Emmons, one of the leading experts on gratitude, says, “To say we feel grateful is not to say that everything in our lives is necessarily great. It just means we are aware of our blessings.”
Here are a few things I’m grateful for this week:
>> The opportunity to celebrate my darling twins on their birthday (and help them get handsome for junior prom on their birthday night!). They are a quiet, patient, easy-to-please pair, and it’s always my primary goal to keep them from being overshadowed by the louder, squeakier wheels in the family. This dynamic duo has embraced an attitude of gratitude since their earliest days, and with their bright, optimistic perspectives, they bring sunshine to my life each and every day.
>> The fierce support and kindness of some dear friends and their friends, who have been extremely generous in stepping up and reaching out on behalf of someone in our family who is trying so hard to achieve a potentially life-changing dream. Fingers and toes crossed!
>> Being able to text with my hilarious brother while trapped for hours in traffic in the passenger seat. We may not be deep intellectuals, but man, we corner the market on happy and ridiculously amusing!
>> The hard work that got Metro-North Railroad (literally) back on track so quickly after the derailment last week. It’s a blessing that no one was killed in the crash, and nearly as merciful that weekday commutes were disrupted for just two days.
>> Hair color! Forget about singin’ the blues…it’s the grays that get me down.
What are you feeling grateful for today?