Joy - 21st Day of Gratitude

Being grateful is a practise I was not taught as a child. I mean, I was told to be grateful, but I did not see examples of that to model. So I had no real idea of what I was meant to do to be grateful.

I have been applying the idea of gratitude to my life for some time now, but thanks to a reminder from The Grateful in April Campaign I decided to undertake a gratitude blog every day in April.

Mostly it has been easy to do, as my life plays out around me and I see the things that I have not recognised before as things to be grateful for. It is a humbling experience to examine ones life and to really see it for what it is ... pretty good really.

I could go into all the well there was that time when, and the other situation that wasn't so good and the other thing that didn't go so well, but where would all that get me?

To be honest, I get tired of listening to myself. Don't get me wrong, given the right set of circumstances and the wrong frame of mind, I will launch into the stories that weight me down, but they are simply that ... heavy.

Gratitude however is light, it is easier to say, to repeat over and over and it brings with it an expectation of more, of abundance.

This is why I have tried to keep away from gratitude for the material things in my life because I know with hard work, we can have those things anyway, but the spiritual things, the nurturing words, the joyous moments, the things that feed my soul and make my heart sing, those are the things I am truly grateful for and want in abundance in my life.

So today I am grateful for the joy, happiness, peace, love and contentment I feel.