Making gratitude a key part of your life can pay amazing happiness dividends. Study after study shows that the longest-lasting boosts of happiness come from writing a gratitude journal, and interestingly, the greatest increases in happiness often come six months into keeping a journal.
This happened to be one of those garden variety weeks where the days sorta blended together and nothing in particular stood out. Yet when I think about it, I’ve still got some great moments for which I’m grateful:
>> I felt blessed to be in the company of almost all the people I love most in this world last weekend on Yom Kippur, with the added bonus of speaking or texting with many of the rest (including one who I watched text me from behind home plate at Fenway Park!). There is no better or more comforting feeling.
>> Again this week, I’m grateful that my boys are all so happy at school so far this year. To see/hear their enthusiasm and engagement is to watch them grow.
>> When people hear that I have twins applying to college just a year after my oldest son went through the agonizing process, they look at me with pity about having to do double duty so soon thereafter. Well, most mercifully, the process has been monumentally simpler and less stressful this time around. I am grateful to have been prepared so thoroughly the first time around and excited for what’s in store this time.
>> I could repeat this one week after week, and I’m sure many readers would agree: CHOCOLATE!
>> Girl time is a gift, and this week I got to have a few hours of it with an old friend as well as a brand-new one who was so sweet to reach out and connect. I wish I lived closer to so many of the other special ladies in my life so we could celebrate our friendship in person more often, but I feel blessed to keep in contact with such amazingly caring and genuine female friends through texts, emails and notes.
>> One of the best moments of my week: Tonight is homecoming at our high school, and I got word this morning that my twins’ senior sweatshirts were ready at the local athletic shop. I picked them up and dropped them at the front desk at school, texting the boys so they could stop off at some point during the day and have them for the pep rally and motorcade that precedes tonight’s historic football game under the lights. As I got back into my car in front of the school. I got a text that said, “Look at the door.” I looked up and there were my twins. It happened to be passing time between classes, and they both came running out, gave me a quick smooch, and ran back in to make their next class. Now that’s something pretty special!
What’s something you’re grateful for this week?