The Things I Am Most Grateful For In My Life!

Hello Everyone! Welcome back to my blog, I hope that you all are excited for the holidays coming up? With Thanksgiving just around the corner, It got me remembering about the things that I am most grateful for in my life; but also acknowledging the everyday blessings that I have which may go unnoticed at times. Not because I am not grateful for those other things, but acknowledging not just the bigger things but the smaller things had me feeling overwhelmingly emotional and I felt like sharing with all of you what I found out. We have a new neighbor next door, and she lives alone her husband passed away a few years ago, we talk on a daily basis. The other day she had spoken about her husbands passing, and what her son said at the services and It was absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t the standard speaking on all of his great accomplishments as a father, husband, grandpa, and person in general but rather he pulled out a piece of paper his father had kept throughout the years and on it was when he started to get sick everyday this man would write down things he was grateful every single day. Because it was 2020, he wanted to write down 2,020 things that he was grateful for; there wasn’t just the best and exciting things that happened to him on a day to day basis for being grateful for but more the smallest things people experience on a day to day basis.

The list had small things such as being grateful to have a roof over his head, to know that he had food in his refrigerator, to have a vehicle to get around town with, to have clean water, to be married to his best friend, to have electricity, to have family and friends always surrounding him, etc. The things he listed showed more about the kind of person he was, and probably gave me solace in acknowledging all of the little things he had in his life. Things that others wish they had as well, or things that aren’t as easy to gain within their own lives. I started to write down everything I am grateful for as well, my beautiful, amazing daughters; my best friend, my love, my husband. I am grateful to have my mama, my dad( who didn’t have to step up and be my dad) but chose me and my mom as his family. My sissy, my husbands family, the friends in my life, the opportunity to raise my family in a place like this. Our church friends, etc. I am also grateful for smaller things in my life as well, having a warm bed, food, clothes for my kids, the opportunity to go to college. I’m grateful my kids can go to a good school, and make friends with so many kind kids who share the same values they do, to have neighbors and friends who care, just all of the small but important parts of life too.

I have to say, writing this list down so far has had me practicing better mental habits. I find myself everyday, even through the rough stressful days also looking for any positive part of the day. Instead of “looking at the glass half empty; looking at the glass as half full.” I believe that at times in our lives or throughout our days that it can be harder to see the little things. Acknowledging the larger parts of your life, while remains important; trying your best to acknowledge the things in your life that others may not have. I encourage you to keep a journal, or make a list on finding things that you are grateful for, lets all not wait until Thanksgiving to acknowledge the things we are grateful for everyday. Life is a gift, its our journey and no one wants to look back on their lives thinking that they didn’t have as much as others did. So acknowledge the little things as much as you can throughout the days and years of you life.

“We can lift ourselves and others…. When we refuse to remain in the realm of negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude, of gratitude. If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said the “gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” -President Thomas S. Monson