Expressing Gratitude is Transformative

I am still aglow with the World Gratitude Day celebrations when I resolved to implement a couple of fun projects. One of them is my personal 100 days of happiness, which started on 22nd. There are exactly 100 days from Sept 22 to December 31. My goal is a photo a day with some words to go with it. By Dec 31, I want to have a 100-page ebook ready!

Yes, I have the ebook fever. It is a nice thing though, because it brings so much joy. And thus I begin my gratitude list for September!

• I am grateful for an errant laptop which allowed me to step out and spend a lot of time outdoors. Which means lots of photos. Which means happiness.
• I had fun with a phone I received for reviewing and clicked quite a lot of photos, which helped me connect with the people in my area – mainly because they were super-amused to see me taking pictures of all and sundry. But oh,  the fun I had? Just wonderful. And it has triggered a couple of good habits too. Win-win!
• Falling sick. I have to be grateful for this one – I just collapsed and I am glad it happened when my husband was home. Solid wake up call with my table literally breaking into pieces – still can’t get over that – and my laptop acting crazy. Time to slow down. Or time to spend even less time at the computer! I am cool with that!
• I am listening and working with renewed vigor on clearing my clutter. As always, the joy of giving is bundled in this activity and I am enjoying collecting smiles on that front, too. I am filled with gratitude for being able to do this.
• Last week, for all the drama, I actually had a normal blood sugar reading. I pray that trend more or less continues.
• I’m taking stock of my life and I am grateful for the support I’ve got. Hey, I got a birthday coming up on Sunday. Whether I actually take action or not, the process is so enjoyable.
• As always, I am super-grateful for the fantastic books I have on my reading shelf. This last week has been particularly rewarding and I am loving it, because my rather psychic-when-it-comes-to-me friends have presented me with some superb books that I will thoroughly enjoy – and review here.
• I am painting some terra cotta pots and am loving it. I have plans to finally get to some of my walls when I finish! Win-win again – new look and instant gratification. I am thankful to have the time to do this.
• As you know, I invited blogger friends to celebrate my birthday this year by collaborating on an ebook – and the response has been overwhelming. I am grateful for the love. I working hard to make sure I present the ebook on Sunday – so please do send me some good vibes! Thank you!
• I am grateful for my clients’ trust in me and the steady flow of work. How fortunate I am to do the work I love!
• My health blog, Be Healthy, Be Happy won the best health blog award at WIN15. I was on a mission when I started my health blog and this is such great motivation to keep on. It was shortlisted in the top 10, then moved into the top 5. I am humbled that it emerged winner.
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• I am grateful for my interaction with Childfund.org – the featured image on top of this post is from there!

Let me share a lovely passage about gratitude with you.

Expressing Gratitude is Transformative

“Expressing gratitude is transformative, just as transformative as expressing complaint.

Imagine an experiment involving two people.

One is asked to spend ten minutes each morning and evening expressing gratitude (there is always something to be grateful for), while the other is asked to spend the same amount of time practicing complaining (there is, after all, always something to complain about).

One of the subjects is saying things like, “I hate my job. I can’t stand this apartment. Why can’t I make enough money? My spouse doesn’t get along with me. That dog next door never stops barking and I just can’t stand this neighborhood.”

The other is saying things like, “I’m really grateful for the opportunity to work; there are so many people these days who can’t even find a job. And I’m sure grateful for my health. What a gorgeous day; I really like this fall breeze.”

They do this experiment for a year. Guaranteed, at the end of that year the person practicing complaining will have deeply reaffirmed all his negative “stuff” rather than having let it go, while the one practicing gratitude will be a very grateful person. . . Expressing gratitude can, indeed, change our way of seeing ourselves and the world.”
-Roshi John Daido Loori​

Isn’t that true? Let’s focus on what we have, rather than what we don’t have!

Please join us today for the September Gratitude Circle blog hop, co-hosted by Corinne and me.

Grab the badge, link up to this post. Write your own gratitude post and add the post url to the linky below.

I look forward to reading your gratitude lists! ♥

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