Gratitude Journals
While listening to one of my favorite pod casts, Another Mother Runner, Dimity and Sarah were talking with Kristin Armstrong. This was a great episode! I really enjoyed this episode because of something Kristin said she participates in every day. Oprah talked about this on her show once and I always thought it was a “nice” idea but I never participated in it. I would mentally take note of things I am grateful for, but I’m going to take a stab at it and try to maintain a Gratitude journal for a month. This can part another new good habit I can take part in during the month of March (my birthday month) as I approach a new year in my life.
When I was outside taking the kids to wait for the bus the sun was shining. It seemed brighter, like Spring really was making its appearance in our part of the world despite the mountains of snow we are still trapped under. But as we were outside I purposely chose not to put on a coat. I heard the birds singing and thought to myself that I was really grateful to hear those birds again. I even told my husband that I am surprised that we don’t hear those sweet songs at all during the winter months. They really do disappear for a period of time and I greatly miss them.
It occurred to me to write that in my gratitude journal. As I thought about it, I was also grateful that I didn’t have to wear a coat. It wasn’t balmy out, but it sure was a lot better than the 12-15 degrees that we were facing throughout most of January and February. I was also grateful that we were pounding a stick into the snow pile to measure how much snow is going to MELT during the week rather than measuring how much we are getting! That’s a nice sign. I am grateful for puddles. It means the snow is melting and soon the daffodils may hopefully poke their heads out of the snowy ground and the grass will begin to be visible again.
I am also grateful for all of the things I was able to learn today. I learn something new every day and I am grateful for my hunger to absorb new information and to try new things. I love to learn. I hope to keep up this habit, if not on paper, then I hope that I take a quiet moment to myself each day to reflect on what it is I should be grateful for and to look for things that are positive rather than to dwell on things that are not.
I am grateful that I get to see Sarah and Dimity on Thursday night!
I am grateful that I had a new episode to listen to.
I am grateful that when I go to be tonight I have more pages of the Tales from Another Mother Runner book to read.
I am grateful that I can sleep in a little tomorrow and run outside.
…See it’s not so hard!
Such a good reminder! It’s true – I feel like a lot of the things Oprah recommends are wonderful things that I would love to do if only I had unlimited time and a lot of household help (I couldn’t even keep up with the book club picks!) but the gratitude journal is one I keep meaning to try.