So, what are you Grateful for?

What are you grateful for?

It's a question that's always given me a moment of pause. There's a lot of things in my life that get on my nerves, but what am I honestly grateful for? It's the part of Thanksgiving that always puts me on the spot in my family where we go around the table before grace and talk about a thing that we are happy to have in our lives. And we want that to be a meaningful thing, even if the thing that comes to mind is "I'm grateful the Diamondbacks at least made an effort this last season".

But it doesn't have to be something astronomically meaningful on a grand scale. Who are you trying to impress? There's no shame in being grateful for smaller, even insignificant things. After all, as I keep saying, it's the little things. When you wake up, before you start cursing the day and everything it's going to deluge into your life, take a second to think of something to be grateful for.
-"I'm grateful I have clean socks and underwear this morning." (I am notorious for forgetting to my laundry the night before)
And then just make a mental list of things to be grateful for.
"I'm grateful there's still some milk for my cereal."
"I'm grateful for the existance of coffee."
"I'm grateful my favorite Webcomic updated on time."
"I'm grateful we'll have a full team at work today."
And so on and so on. The idea is to take stock and count of all the good things in your life, rather than putting all of your innermost passion on the things you hate, or the things you're dreading. Even if you absolutely despise what you do for a living, you can at the very least say "I am grateful I am employed", because you are. You are at least grateful for that.

It can be a bugger to just compile a big list of things like that. So I recommend starting with just one thing. One thing that you're grateful for. And take a moment to appreciate this thing, or person, and love it. Love coffee? Have a cup of coffee, and really savor it, or enjoy it in that one coffee house you rarely get to go to.
And now that you have that one thing, you can start adding other things you find in your life that you're grateful for. Even if it's a situational "The carpool was on time, today was a good day". Or something not even relevant to you ("I saw a bunny on my way to work"). You will be amazed at what you can find a bit of gratitude for in things around you, or the things you take for granted.
And never forget to always take some time every day to be thankful for the things you're grateful for, even if it's just two seconds of silent reflection. Do this for yourself, focus on the good, and the good will start coming back to you.

Have a great and prosperous day.