Today I start what I hope will become a Tuesday tradition … Gratitude Tuesday.
I started toying with the idea of including things I’m grateful for on my blog posts a few weeks ago when I came across a list. At the time I made it, I called the list a grateful journal. I kept it for a month a few years back when I was experiencing a severe case of “The grass is always greener.” Reading the simple entries – just three a day – I could remember exactly what was going on in my life during those days and why I was grateful for the things I recorded. More importantly, I remember what a profound change it made to my perspective on life. I looked inward to all the things I had to be thankful for. Many were small, but they added up to much. And I could see how green my grass was.
Fast forward to last week when I started experimenting with a new camera. I shared that it was my intention to take more pictures of daily life, noticing things of beauty and interest that I might otherwise pass by and not notice. Two readers, Michelle and Patti, noticed this idea fit in with their and other bloggers effort to notice the details of life and say thanks. (Be sure to check out their thankful pages by clicking on their names. They have several links which may help to inspire you, too!)
This was the final push I needed to start Gratitude Tuesday. My plan is to keep a list going through the week and share it with you on Tuesday. It’s my hope that establishing this habit will help me notice all those little things through the week that are sometimes overshadowed by the bad or even the really good.
So here’s what I’m grateful for this week …
- Cool, breezy summer days
- The smell of chocolate cake in the oven
- Family game night
- An hour to myself at the park
- My new camera
- The smell of rain in the evening
- Having everyone in my family home
- Plenty of activities to keep the kids busy
- A day where the kids are content to be lazy
I’m back from Cincinnati and catching up this Wednesday on your Tuesday. I have to absolutely SHOUT this out!!! TWO amazing things!!! Yesterday, TUESDAY, our #1 daughter was offered her dream job…I know you write about gratitude as a state of being…but this event was long awaited and accompanied by lots of prayers from many faithful supporters. We are so GRATEFUL. AND to top it off, this morning as I type we are experiencing RAIN, a good June gullywasher which we haven’t experienced since January.
Congratulations! That’s wonderful!
Hi Malinda!
Your Gratitude Tuesdays is a great and inspiring idea, and also a good reminder that happiness does come in the littlest and the most simple of packages.
I like reading your blogs, as it offers a realistic and positive perspective on life. You are an inspiration to many and we salute you for celebrating life through your blogs.
Cheers and Godspeed!
Hi Malinda!
Your Gratitude Tuesdays blog is a great and inspiring idea, a good reminder that happiness can come in the littlest of things. Though I haven’t really finished mapping out my blogs, this is a great idea and thank you for inspiring us all!
Cheers and Godspeed!
The ability to slow down and enjoy a moment without having already placed it in a plan or found a relative value for it is wonderful. We may later find a value and be grateful for having allowed ourselves to be in that moment but there will also be moments that seem wasted. But if we don’t allow ourselves those moments how are we going to discover the great unexpected ones we cherish. So I think we have to be grateful for the “mistakes” as well. Most of all I think it’s great to take the time to express gratitude because it reinforces the value of things we often let slip away or under value in the search for new great moments. I’m grateful for reflection.
I have been keeping my own gratitude journal, mostly daily, but not on my blog. . . . yet. I only post every couple of days, so have not committed to a specific posting, but several are making the commitment and might just nudge me into action soon. One who expressed the power of gratitude well, talked about the ripples each act of thanks can make and thereby eventually impact others. Here is her site: http://steadilyskippingstones.wordpress.com/thankful/
Good idea, Mindy. With all of the death surrounding our family lately, a good dose of CONSCIOUS gratitude might help me muddle through on those rough days.
Hope you forgive me butting in – but having had my own recent rounds of losses, had to say:
Thoughts with you – not always the easiest journey through grief, but there are gifts to be received from the experience – – sometimes hard to remember that, though, I know.
[…] Gratitude Tuesday post by fellow blogger Malinda Essex, came on the heels of my decision that enough is enough, I […]
LOL – I have to share – Yesterday, in order to pull myself out of a funk brought on by yet another season of losses, I immersed myself in upbeat, cheerful literature, video, articles. (of course, your blog being one destination! :>)
This morning around 4, I awoke and realized I had stopped keeping the journal I started last year in order to turn around the funk I was experiencing then. I vowed to start my journal again today and thought about a conversation with a friend years ago about the merits of a gratitude journal, which of course, led to thoughts of disciplined journal and meditating exercises…..and went back to sleep.
Did I awake later to wipe the dust off my old journal and write? Nope. I started my morning routine, which includes reading new posts by you; hence, here’s my gratitude list for today:
“I’m grateful for Malinda Essex for reminding me what I vowed to do for my health and happiness 4 hours ago and promptly forgot”
LOL
Wow! That’s fantastic! 🙂
What exactly is it about Malinda? Does she read minds? Does she have one of those red phones connected straight through with the Big Guy? Or what? There have been about 3 different occasions when I was feeling or thinking a certain way and the same day (or next at the latest), here is a blog on Dendrochronology about the very same issue. Whatever it is, it’s working.
There are some things I don’t care how they work, just glad they do! ROFL
(Either she’s on St. Peter’s ‘messenger’ group or perhaps a crystal ball?)
LOL! You all are good for my soul – thanks for making me smile after “one of those days.” 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad you’re doing this on your blog. I’ve often found inspiration here, and this is just one more thing! Not only that, but it will be helpful for me in my journey to improve my ‘tude 🙂 and just be more thankful for what’s wonderful in my life. Everyone’s doing it a little differently, and that’s a great thing. Reading the thankful posts and pages by my fellow bloggers not only remind me to be thankful, but inspire me, and teach me how to be thankful. I’m looking forward to being reminded, inspired and taught by your Gratitude Tuesdays.