With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it is a really good time to ask ourselves what are we thankful for, what are we grateful for. Even though I am doing a morning gratitude exercise regularly, acknowledging what I am grateful for, I have not written a list for some time now.
With so many changes in our lives, sometimes we might not be aware that there is something new that we should acknowledge and be grateful for. And this time of the year is definitely a good time for updating this list.
I have asked myself what am I grateful for nowadays and here is my list:
1.) My Family
There is nothing more important than my immediate family. I always loved my family very much. But I don’t think I have realized before that they were my #1 priority in life. And I will be honest here: in the past I would usually put other aspects of my life as a higher priority. But something shifted within me in the past few years. I feel like it is part of my transformation.
And even though I feel that I am still not spending enough time with my family, I understand that they are my everything, they are my world.
2.) My home
I am so grateful for our home. Regardless of the fact that our house seems to not able to stay clean and organized for longer than 5 minutes. 🙂 This is the place where I feel safe and comfortable.
I guess it is pretty normal house state with little kids in the house, without designated cleaning person on “staff”. 🙂 And though it is often messy and smaller in size than what we need at this stage of our lives, it is still the best, most comfortable and the coziest place place in the world.
3.) My health
I am far from being the healthiest person in the world, but I am very grateful for my health. I can tell you that I became so much healthier than I used to be by changing my diet and eating habits, and implementing regular exercise for my body as well as mind. I will definitely continue exploring this.
4.) My determination
This is something new on my list of things to be grateful for. I have realized how grateful I am that I am a determined person. And I was not born with this quality, it was something I have learned.
Anyone can become determined. You just need to want something bad enough. Difference between people who achieve something and those who don’t, with everything else being equal, is truly wanting this specific something. And I can elaborate on this more in another article, but it is really the case.
5.) My work/career
I am grateful for my work opportunities that I have had in life. I am grateful for all the lessons I have learned during my adult work years. And some experiences were very tough and seemed very brutal and unfair, at the time. I could not figure out why it was happening to me and why was my life so ‘unfair’ (in my mind:) ). But only later on in life, I was able to learn the lessons that those experiences brought to me, and realized the true reasons behind those events.
6.) My state of mind
The reason I was able to learn those lessons that I have mentioned above was because my state of mind has shifted. Just with a little bit of practice you can shift your state of mind from sad/upset to a happy one. I have written an article about state of mind few months back.
Remember that you can create the life you want, the life that you will really enjoy.
7.) My sense of humor
This one is also new on my gratitude list. Even though, sense of humor is not new to me, I have never acknowledged the fact how grateful I am for this.
I love laughing. I am trying to find any moment I can to crack a joke. But unfortunately, with years and responsibilities piling up, my fun side is not a primary part of my life anymore.
Well, I want it back! 🙂 And I am committing to get this side of me to be more present in my life more often; as I believe that humor is the best medicine and absolutely magical for any purpose.
8.) My honesty
Another new item on my gratitude list is honesty. This one has caused me a lot of grief throughout the years. 🙂 I usually say what I think. And people don’t like it. There is a quote I came across that I like: “You know that little thing inside your head that keeps you from saying things you shouldn’t? Yeah, I don’t have one of those.” :))
And most of my unpleasant experiences with people were involving my honesty, sometimes brutal one.
Looking back now, I am so grateful that honesty was my character trait throughout all of those years. If it wasn’t for honesty, I would still be stock with those toxic people surrounding me. And since I would not be able to change them, I would have to become one of them. Thank You honesty for not letting me get stuck there! 🙂
9.) My personal growth
A big part of my transformation was and is my personal growth. Even though it is common to think that people don’t change, it seems to me that I am a completely different person from what I used to be. And I am very grateful for this!
10.) My positive contribution
This is definitely a new topic on my list. To be honest, everything in my life used to be kind of like a transaction. Only recently I have discovered something amazing – to be able to help a complete stranger and not get anything in return.
And by getting something in return I don’t just mean something physical, but things like recognition as well. A lot of us doing good deeds for selfish reasons, such as to get recognition, etc. Which is still an amazing thing to do. I wish most of the people would start contributing positively to this world for selfish reasons. 🙂
But I have finally discovered this amazing feeling in myself to help complete strangers physically or virtually, just to help. And you might say: ‘it makes you feel good, therefore it’s selfish as well.’ Well, let it be then…:) Nevertheless, I am very grateful for my positive contribution!
11.) My energy
I am very thankful for my energy! Considering all the physical and mental abuse I have put myself through, during my life, I am very surprised that I have the energy level that I have. Looking at my lifestyle in the past, I have realized that I used to be my worst enemy. I am glad I have had my breakthroughs.
I am also grateful that in combination with my shifted state of mind, I am filled with positive energy and trying to spread it to the world as well.
12.) People I have recently met
I am very grateful for the people I have recently met in my life. Some of these people I have never even met in person. It has been a while since I could say how impressed I was with someone, outside of my family. Without going into any details, I just want to say that I am very grateful for meeting these positive and magical people.
13.) Attitude of gratitude
Attitude of gratitude is also new on my list of things to be grateful for. I thought that I can’t practice gratitude because I am a factual person who is analyzing everything; that practicing gratitude is not for everyone and I just didn’t have it in me. That was my limiting belief, and you can read about it here.
It is a simple truth that whatever you focus on becomes your reality. Attitude of gratitude has played a major factor in being able to shift my mind and emotional state.
Additionally, being grateful has a snowball effect. The more grateful you are, the more you get to be grateful for. The more I acknowledge what I am grateful for – the happier I become. Being grateful unlocks the fullness of life.
That was my list of what I am thankful and grateful for. What is yours? If you haven’t done this yet, create a list for yourself and write it down. Spend a few minutes with your list daily and watch the magic unfold! 🙂 Being grateful will bring more of what you want in your life. The more grateful you are – the more you get of what you are grateful for.
And I wanted to take this opportunity and Thank everyone who are taking time out of their day to read my posts. Thank You!!! And Happy upcoming Thanksgiving to You and Your Loved Ones!
