An Attitude of Gratitude
Posted By Kathleen David on August 22, 2020
Attitude (noun)
A settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior.
Gratitude (noun)
The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.
I have been putting something I am grateful for at the end of most of my entries since August 12, 2004. I got the idea from another blogger who challenged us to a week’s challenge say something we were grateful for. Sixteen years later I am still doing it.
Some days it is hard to pull something up that I am grateful for. Other days I have many things that come to mind.
It helps me when I am feeling helpless or angry or depressed that I still have good things happening around me.
There are studies that say thinking about all we are grateful for can help our mental health. It is one way to short circuit the feeling of helplessness. Reflection on one’s life is not a bad thing to do.
There is a difference between reflection and dwelling on one’s past.
Some people are stuck with their woulda shoulda coulda voices. They obsess that point in their life that they feel it all went wrong. Or when they felt their life was at its best and it has been all downhill from there.
I have had some of those voices in my head but when I reflect where I am now, if I had gotten that life, I wouldn’t have this one.
Everything I have in my life now is due to the path I took to get here. I am not saying my life is perfect, but I am glad I am where I am now.
I try to be a kind person to others. Saying please and thank you doesn’t cost me anything and it can make someone else feel better. Being polite to the people I encounter in a day just seems the right thing to do. My mother taught me that.
Doesn’t mean I am a push over when I am shoved.
I have a low bull crap tolerance. People who try to blow sunshine up my skirt are met with guarded suspicion. I can tell honest emotion verses an artifice of emotion. I have had to deal with enough narcissists in my time.
I try to see the best in people. I encourage others to be their best.
I try to be a positive force in the world. Some days that is not easy, but I still try.
I am grateful for everything I have listed over the years that I am grateful for.
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