While I am grateful for so many things, there are days when I am down, depressed and hard on myself and others in my life. As part of my daily practice, or intention, I keep a mason jar on my desk with little strips of colored paper at the ready. Regularly, if not daily, I try to write down something I am grateful for and I stick it in the jar.
Naturally, not every day is perfect. As a matter of fact I could probably count on both hands the number of perfect days that I've had. Days you would think might be perfect such as a graduation, a wedding, a firstborn child, or a family vacation were smattered with an eye patch from a chlorine gas burn, exceedingly warm temperatures, vomiting blue freezy-pop into a dirty garden bucket in the car, and unexpected yet surprisingly frequent trips to the ER for stitches, poison ivy, broken bones, etc. Needless to say perfection is hard to come by thus, the Gratitude Jar.
My Gratitute Jar is a reminder to me to appreciate the life I have. I am healthy. I ate at my favorite restaurant for my birthday. Someone shared a cookie with me while I waited in line for 5 hours. I have had great neighbors growing up and currently. Someone made me laugh out loud.
It is especially important to take time to be grateful when all has gone to hell. At work I rarely have my door closed. On one particularly rough day at work I got up and shut my door to have two minutes of silence. My secretary walked in and reported that parents were here to talk to me, there were two phone calls for me, and... She looked at me and asked, "What are you doing? Are you doing art?"
"I am trying to think of one thing that I'm grateful for, then I'll be right out."
It's amazing how much better I feel when I remember how fortunate I truly am. For this, I am grateful.
