I listened to a podcast from one of my favorite authors, Susie Moore, and her challenge was to consider:
“What if you woke up tomorrow with only the things you were grateful for today, what would you have when you woke up in the morning?”
Wow!! What a thought provoking question! If I’m being honest about what I was consciously thankful for yesterday, there’s a lot that wouldn’t be in my life today if this scenario actually played out.
More than I would like to admit…
For example: I would like to have my husband still be around, but if I think back, I may or may not have actually taken the time to consciously choose to be grateful for him. Instead, I likely spent more time dwelling on the things that drive me a little bit crazy instead of being thankful to have him in my life at all.
Somehow it’s easier for me to get annoyed about the silverware left in the sink instead of getting put the dishwasher, or that he didn’t do something the way I wanted it done, or that he didn’t help enough (you fill in the blank)… rather than being thankful that I have a husband who is healthy, who loves me and loves our son, who is around all the time to leave his dishes in the sink day in and day out, etc.
It’s a good reminder for me to consider the things that I dwell on, to take a quick inventory and see if that’s truly how I feel in my heart or just the natural place that my mind likes to wonder off to. This question encourages me to pause and really think about all the things I have in my life that I would want to be there tomorrow and to take the time to stop and choose to be thankful for them today. Some days gratitude comes naturally to me, and other days it doesn’t come naturally at, all but I am learning that choosing to practice gratitude helps rewire my brain so that it wanders there on its own more often than it did before.
I want to choose day in and day out to have gratitude for this beautiful life and all the wonderful things about it that I get to enjoy.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more.” -Melody Beattie
I continue to be amazed at the mental shift that can happen when I choose to practice being grateful for my life. The circumstances aren’t any different but my thoughts sure are different. My perspective certainly is different.
What do you want to have tomorrow when you wake up?
Let’s be intentional about choosing to take time to be grateful for those things today. If we choose to switch our mindset to one of gratitude, we will often find that what we have is actually enough and more.
We only have one life to live, let's make it AMAZING!
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