What are you Grateful for?

To post to our Community Gratitude List..... 
scroll down to the end of this post and 
look for the comments section. 
Thank you!


Photo of the month:

Malibu, May 2010

Quote of the month:

Both abundance and lack exist 

simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. 

It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend... 

When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives 

but are grateful for the abundance that's present

/love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature 

and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure/ 

the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience 
Heaven on earth.

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

What Are You Grateful For?
It seems to feel like we are skipping over Thanksgiving a bit and rushing on to Christmas.  I hear it said every year... that the holidays seem to start earlier and earlier each year.  I saw holiday things out at Target even before Halloween.  I have no judgement about it being either a "good" thing or a "bad" thing.  I do, however, not want to miss the opportunity to focus on gratitude.

This year, I am going to devote an entire month to just that.  Since November is Thanksgiving, it seems the perfect time to also highlight gratitude. Gratitude is a powerful catalysts to a joyful life! It is important to take the time to reflect on the wonderful things that are present in your life.


I invite you to pause for a moment...yes, right now and just think about something you are grateful for. Go ahead, take a moment.... I'll wait.  If things are going well for you right now, this will be simple.  If you feel life has been a bit challenging lately, it may be a bit more challenging to think of something, but even so, there are still many things to be grateful for.  In fact, placing your attention on those things may help to lighten the load you may feel in other areas of your life as the quote above seems to imply.


For some examples - is the sun out where you are? Did someone hold a door for you today?  Was the clerk at the store polite to you?  Are you breathing?  Do you have clothing to keep you warm?  Enough food to eat?  Have you ever really noticed the abundance and variety of foods that are available to us in the grocery store?  Take a moment in the produce department next trip to the store and just observe what is there.  It is truly amazing!  For my Floridian readers, if this happens to be in a Publix Supermarket, you can be doubly grateful!  (No they don't pay me to say that!)


Do you have your one thing you are grateful for?  Concentrate on it for just a moment.


Notice how you feel when you focus on something you are grateful for. Bring your attention to your heart and recognize the feeling of love and joy that fills your heart. Doesn't it feel GREAT! Savor that feeling and know that you have the ability to take yourself there any time you choose!


In the evenings I often have my boys list three things they are grateful for from that day. I encourage them to be specific about something that happened recently. I wanted to take a minute to list a few specific things that I am grateful for and then invite you to do the same.


Last year, this idea evolved into a Community Gratitude list on the blog.  What I've done this year is pull that post forward, edit it a bit... and will make the same suggestion as last year, to take a minute and add to the list.  All you have to do is click the comments button below.  You may add to the list with or without using your name.  It is simple!  You can also choose to have follow up comments e-mailed to you, which in this case I would suggest.  I believe it can be cumulative, somewhat synergistic, and we can all benefit from the comments and gratitude of others.  For those of you who posted last year, it  may be interesting to go back and look at the list, possibly add a few new things this year.


I'd like all of us to experience what gratitude can do in your life! Also, how placing your awareness on gratitude increases it and just how good it can make you feel!


The photo of the month is from a hike in a canyon during a trip I took earlier this year to Malibu, CA.  A trip I am very grateful to have experienced... where I experienced new places and things, ate healthy food, visited with a lifelong friend.. and made new friends!  


Thank you to all of you for your continued support of my blogging endeavor! For that I am also supremely grateful!


To read last month's post on your True Colors.... click here.


Until next month,
Keep it simple!
Penelope