Day 30 - Gratefulness

I try to remember to take a moment each day to recognise what I am grateful for. Each day I try to recognise something that I haven't during that week. Gratefulness is an integral part of my life. For me it is the difference between the glass being half full or half empty. With a daily practice of gratitude, the glass is always half full. Whenever I am faced with a challenge I always look for a positive, no matter how small. It may be that the positive thing out of a situation is that I have learned a valuable lesson. It may be a wonderful new, although scary opportunity opening up. It may be recognising and acknowledging a relationship that soothes my soul.

I have many mantras that I say to myself in any given situation so when people ask for a favourite it is hard for me to pick one. One of my all time favourites is

"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change" 

 

This phrase opens up possibilities, it helps me take stock and reframe how I am looking at the situation, how I can turn it into a positive, how i can make something even more. Effy wrote about reframing a while ago. If I can locate it I will update this with a link.

I'll start today with being grateful for belonging to such a great art community, on and offline, for being able to interact with so many wonderful, inspirational people that may never have crossed my path if not for this community and my passion for the creative. They inspire me everyday.

Friendship seems to be the recurring theme of my posts this month.

 Apart from my family, my friends are my lifeblood, they are the rocks in my hard places, they are the glue that binds my worlds together, they are the paint on my page, they are the words in my books I read. They are there in my times of need and they are there for a laugh and a nice relaxing cuppa. They "get" me and they don't judge me. They accept me for me and I am eternally grateful for their presence. I only hope that I am as good a friend to them as they are to me.

Each day, take time to recognise all that you have to be grateful for in that moment. Start with the obvious but try to go a bit deeper, look for things that you hadn't noticed before. See the little things that mean so much, from the clean air that we breathe, to the fresh water coming out of the tap.  Be grateful for the mundane, the routine, the normal. Be grateful for each and every experience you have because they are all a part of the beautiful mosaic that you are.

Namaste

Lee