Gratefulness journal

I have been writing about Appreciating What Is for a while, and when I first began the study of Appreciative Living, the first assignment was a gratefulness journal. In it one is supposed to record three things each day that one is grateful for.  At first it seemed like a rote assignment—so OK, I appreciate my dog Lucy and the love she gives me, and I appreciate that we have had some rain, and I appreciate that I am feeling pretty good. And for a while that was that.  It was getting boring. Then I re-read the instructions, and saw what I had passed over at first: to take the next 30 seconds after you write down each entry to close your eyes and feel the appreciation. Can you imagine what happened? At first there is the resistance to take the time. But altogether one and a half minutes? Being stingy about a minute and a half is just silly.  You waste that amount of time waiting for your coffee to re-warm in the microwave, or sitting at a red light. I have discovered that using that 30 seconds for each of the things you list in your journal pays dividends all day. 

When I write that I appreciate my dog, and close my eyes to really feel it, I get a kind of mental slide show of all the best moments of our time together and when I look at her, what I see is all the love and  loyalty that have been mine for ten years. It is not that anything has changed, it is me that has changed.  It is that I am able to see with a fresh “eye” what has been there in front of me all the time. And by taking that 30 seconds to really feel how I feel, a little bit of it comes with me so that when Lucy strikes a puppy-like pose, even in her old age, I can see the puppy in her.

Today, the rain has ceased, and living here in California, we look at rain differently, not as something that happens all the time, but as an interruption of our eternal sunshine. However, now that the rain has stopped, all the hills around my house are green rather than brown, and because I have taken the time to actually feel something about that, when I look out the window, the green stands out, and I can feel the freshness and the renewal of the earth. As I drive around, I notice that the rain has washed the streets clean, and even buildings look cleaner and fresher.

And I am feeling pretty good.  I am grateful for that. I close my eyes and know that not everyone I love has that reassurance today. Some are in pain, some have the flu, some are worried about ongoing conditions, but I can say that I am warm and comfortable.  I do not dread that I have to go out shopping, or that I have chores to accomplish.  I appreciate that I can put myself aside for long enough to learn from my coach what he has to teach me today. I can notice the twinge here and there, but not take for granted my abilities and being able to do what I want to do, whether it is to take a walk, or sew on a button, or read a good book.

All in all, my gratefulness journal serves as a reminder of how lucky I am.  I think that in some ways it gives me the space to let others be who they are, whether I happen to agree with their ways of doing things or not. So take a few minutes at the end of your day, or perhaps just after dinner to gather up your thoughts and be grateful, and then to really feel what you are grateful for, and to smile.  Studies have shown that when you smile, you begin to feel happier, and that right there is something to be grateful for.