April 12, 2009

Today I am grateful for water.

Today I am grateful for my flash drive.

Today I am grateful for garlic-stuffed olives – yum!

Today I am grateful for Netflix.

Today I am grateful for candles.

Today I am grateful for ebooks.

April 11, 2009

Today I am grateful for rain!

Today I am grateful for Aardbark Grooming, where they did a great job grooming my dog.

Today I am grateful for Cheryl, Dee, Deanna, Emi, Scott, and Lorrie.

Today I am grateful for finishing my taxes and getting a refund.

Today I am grateful for FeedReader.

Today I am grateful for The History Channel.

Today I am grateful for a long weekend.

April 10, 2009

Today I am grateful for paid holidays.

Today I am grateful for wind, sun, and blue skies.

Today I am grateful for OpenOffice.

Today I am grateful for Emi, Deanna, Dione, and Rob.

Today I am grateful for wet doggy kisses.

77 Reasons to be Grateful

from eDragonu
love your life for everything you already have
love your life for what you are yet to receive
love your life for all your certainties
love your life for the friends you have
love your life for the wonderful journeys you had
love your life for the friends you will get
love your life for all the bad advice you didn’t follow
love your life for your beautiful memories
love your life for the ones you love
love your life for the ones you forgot, as they are still to enrich your life
love your life for the work you do, as this is your gift to the others
love your life for the jokes you still wait to hear
love your life for the beautiful travels you are still to make
love your life for everything you are not sure about, as it will still challenge your being
love your life for all the beautiful sunrises you remember
love your life for all the fantastic sunsets you still recall
love your life for tomorrow’s sunrise
love your life for yesterday sunset
love your life for the gifts you are yet to receive
love your life for the health you have
love your life for all the beauty you can spot around you
love your life for the ugliness around you, as it serves you to contrast the beauty you are ignoring
love your life for the riddles you haven’t yet solved
love your life for all your unanswered questions
love your life for all your victories
love your live for all the good advice you followed
love your life for all your lost battles, as they are your precious lessons
love your life for your enemies, as they are there to give birth to you forgiveness
love your life for all the small things in your life
love your life for all the ambitious goals you’ve set
love your life for all the answers you got so far
love your life for the smiles you get every day
love your life for the smiles you give every day
love your life for your energetic mornings
love your life for your romantic evenings
love your life for the life rediscovered through the eyes of your children
love your life for the smell of the rain
love your life for the gifts you still have to make
love your life for all the games you haven’t yet played
love your life for the next first snow
love your life for all the great ideas you had today
love your life for all the great ideas you will have tomorrow
love your life for tomorrow’s surprises
love your life for today’s gifts
love your life for all your fulfilled dreams
love your life for yesterday’s memories, they are there to enlight you
love your life for all the nice words you haven’t yet said to your loved ones
love your life for all the nice words you heard from your loved ones
love your life for all the nice people you haven’t yet met
love your life for all your mistakes, so you can have plenty of time to make up for them
love your life for all the adventures you haven’t yet had
love your life for all the books you haven’t yet read
love your life for all the books you haven’t yet written
love your life for all the unborn challenges you still have to face
love your life for all the stories you haven’t yet heard, written or imagined
love your life for the person who’s looking at you from the mirror every morning
love your life for the nurturing family you already have
love your life for all you have to share with others
love your life for all you’ve lost in your journey, as it will only make room for something even bigger
love your life for the feeling of your heart overflowing with love
love your life for all your unfulfilled dreams as you will have plenty of time to make them true
love your life for all the opportunities that are waiting for you just around the corner
love your life for the personal freedom you conquered
love your life for everything you created so far
love your life for the beauty of every spring
love your life for the energy of every summer
love your life for the emotions of every fall
love your life for the cold beauty of every winter
love your life for all the beauty inside you, waiting yet to be discovered
love your life for all the fantastic colors that are shaping your world every day
love your life for all the wonderful music you’ve heard so far
love your life for all the people you have met so far, they are your precious universe
love your life for wind that caresses your face every day
love your life for the all the unexpected changes of your plans
love your life for all the fights you avoided
love your life for all the crossroads you meet every day, they are there to offer you the best path you can chose
love your life for every single second, as this is all you have, only this infinite second

And here are my additions:

love your life for the mistakes you have made - they make you who you are
love your life for all of its imperfections - they keep things interesting
love your life for all of its pain and suffering - it helps you grow

March Gratitude

It may seem as though I’m not very grateful this month. I certainly haven’t been posting regularly. March is a pretty rough time for me. I was diagnosed with cancer in March, and I still get a little freaked out around mid-March. Last year my cousin was diagnosed with cancer in March, and we buried him in April. This year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer in March. My aunt went into the hospital on March 27 and was close to death. There’s just something about this month that is tough for my family. In the midst of that, however, there are some things to be grateful for.

I’m really grateful for my family. I’m especially grateful for my new grand-niece, Abigail. If pictures can be believed, she’s quite lovely. She gave her mama a tough time over the last couple of month, and we were worried that she might be born with some long-term problems. As it turns out, she’s radiantly healthy, and we are all very grateful for that. And, my aunt, who we thought was leaving us, seems to be recovering after all. It's still touch and go, but they found the problem and it can be treated.

I’m grateful for the folks here at work who put up with my personal March Madness, especially Leslie, Dave, Mike, and Bridget. I’m grateful to have a job in this economy, but how much more blessed am I to be working with such wonderful people.

I’m also grateful for my Toastmasters club and all the wonderful people in it. I’m especially grateful for Emi, Barbara, and Rob.

I’m very grateful for all the bloggers out there with food allergies who contribute their hard-won wisdom and recipes to the world out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s been so encouraging to me as I’ve tried to adjust to my food allergies. In that same vein, I am very grateful for the restaurants that serve food that I can eat, where the servers know what ingredients are in each dish, and where they don’t become impatient if you have a special request. I am especially grateful to my neighborhood Mexican restaurant, where I can get a good meal with friendly service every time I walk through the door without a moment of concern. If you're in the area, stop by at Rio Rico in Gilbert. They're great.

I am always grateful for my dog, who always has a spare kiss that he’d just love to share with me. He is so faithful and loving, even if I come home late. I read an article recently that says that when you look into the eyes of your dog while you are playing, it creates the same kind of hormonal changes in your body that would occur if you were playing with your child. Now that’s something to be really grateful for! What a gift dogs give us!

I am grateful for my Internet connection, my laptop, my car, my house, my clothes, my mind, my body, and so many other things that I tend to take for granted until they stop working for a while.

March 11, 12, and 13, 2009

On Wednesday I was so grateful for everyone at work, for El Pollo Loco, for the Internet as a source of information about food allergies, for everyone at Twilite Toastmasters, Wayne, and Christie.

On Thursday, I was grateful for Leslie, Dave, silliness at work, Emi, Rob, Cheryl, Bonnie, Peggy, Tamra, Dione, Wayne, and Gilbert Toastmasters.

Today I am grateful for Mike, Amy, Gretchen, Dee, almonds, Peggy, Emi, cookbooks, Barbara, and Wayne.

What are you grateful for today? Share your gratitude and change the world!

New research suggests key to happiness is gratitude

Gratitude, the emotion of thankfulness and joy in response to receiving a gift, is one of the essential ingredients for living a good life, Kashdan says. Kashdan's most recent paper, which was published online this week at the Journal of Personality, reveals that when it comes to achieving well-being, gender plays a role. He found that men are much less likely to feel and express gratitude than women.

"Previous studies on gratitude have suggested that there might be a difference in gender, and so we wanted to explore this further—and find out why. Even if it is a small effect, it could make a huge difference in the long run," says Kashdan.

In one study, Kashdan interviewed college-aged students and older adults, asking them to describe and evaluate a recent episode in which they received a gift. He found that women compared with men reported feeling less burden and obligation and greater levels of gratitude when presented with gifts. In addition, older men reported greater negative emotions when the gift giver was another man.

"The way that we get socialized as children affects what we do with our emotions as adults," says Kashdan. "Because men are generally taught to control and conceal their softer emotions, this may be limiting their well-being."

As director of the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths, and Related Phenomena at Mason, Kashdan is interested in the assessment and cultivation of well-being, curiosity, gratitude and meaning and purpose in life. He has been active in the positive psychology movement since 2000, when he taught one of the first college courses on the science of happiness.

Kashdan says that if he had to name three elements that are essential for creating happiness and meaning in life it would be meaningful relationships, gratitude, and living in the present moment with an attitude of openness and curiosity. His book "Curious?," which outlines ways people can enhance and maintain the various shades of well-being, is scheduled for release in April 2009 with HarperCollins.
Source: George Mason University