What we are grateful for
by founditonapostednote
One of my best friends suggested that we keep an ongoing, end-of-week list of things we are grateful for. She came up with the idea after watching “The Happiness Project,” a film that talks about, well, happiness. According to my friend’s analysis, people who had the ability to count their blessings were happier in life than others (I love stating the obvious just as much as you love being told it). My friend reasoned that we should share our lists for accountability purposes–you know, to make sure we are actually taking time to make ourselves happier.
What I noticed almost instantly was that doing the list forced us to find any beauty that may have resulted amongst–and in spite of– the week’s ugly chaos. It also gave us a breath of fresh air before a new week began, helping us start with the right energy and positive momentum. Finally, when I read our lists and our responses, I found that I not only loved and appreciate my friends more than I even knew I could, but I was also inspired by them– and by myself. I guess what I am saying is that it makes me happy. And not a-fleeting-moment-kind-of happy. I mean actual, DNA-changing happy.
Here is a sampling of lists we have generated so far.
A’s Grateful for Lists:
Week 1:
1. being able to cook good food
2. tasting new and amazing good foods
3. having enough motivation to workout
4. hearing happy news
5. my clothes, which allow me to express my personality
6. my family
7. God’s guidance.
8. Finally, after three months, feeling ready to take out of my trunk, the box of my stuff J gave L, and having the strength to face/remove all items.
9. Having a sense of adventure and friends who do, too
Week 3:
1. That I survived this week
2. That I made time to do at least two workouts during the week despite going to bed at 230 am every night
3. That we partied at SH’s and had an amazing time
4. That we constantly have things to celebrate
5. That I keep talking to God when I feel helpless.
R’s Grateful for List:
Week 3:
1. carving out time with L to make resolutions (as painful as it was!)
2. finding a cooking class im interested in (ny res check)
3. working out four times this week (ny res check)
4. figuring out what option to select to lower my school loan payments
5. the fact that i love my homemade espresso drinks
6. cooking and loving it
7. being an alumni of the best school ever
8. hanging out with my best guy friend’s wife, and then my best guy friend
9. emailing some of my contacts (ny res check)
10. tidying up any chance i got
S’s Grateful for List:
Week 3:
1. a better relationship with my sister (she has become more family
oriented and spends the entire wknd at home – she is actually going to
be moving back home in the fall to go back to school – interesting
story i’ll have to tell y’all abt it)
2. my hair – i know, sounds very superficial – but i love being able
to curl it or do stuff to it and it makes me feel all pretty lol
3. manicures/pedicures and the ability to splurge in them 
4. living/being born in the U.S. (i know this is so general and BIG
but i think abt it all the time compared to people’s lives everywhere
else)
5. facetime – and being able to talk to/see my mom while she is overseas!
What are you and your friends grateful for?
I am thankful for friends who send random, unexpected texts that let me know they are thinking of me – especially when they do so knowing that I may not be able to answer for 4+ days. (Arti, this is 100% YOU!!!)
After the most stressful and exhausting 7 weeks at the end of 2012 – I am
thankful for sunny days, surpassed goals, positive news, and friends/family/neighbors who still consider me a friend, despite my complete absence and temporary stress-induced dementia during the season of unprecendented wackiness! (seriously, in 42 years, I’ve never been more stressed out than I was then – so, I want to add that I’m thankful for the forgiveness extended to me).
I am thankful for hindsight and the clarity in the lessons it reveals.
Thankful for life’s lily pads, and thankful that somewhere along the way I learned to recognize stumbling blocks, disappointments, and failures as just that. The developers of “Forgger” were onto something . . . to get from one side of the river to the other, one must jump on a million life-saving lily pads. On some we can rest only for a mere nano-second; and some we must linger longer than we think we should in order to resist danger or gain strength (food pellets) to make the leap to the next. As long as we keep hopping in the right direction, and avoiding the jaws of pesky crocodiles, the journey is exciting, insightful, and will ultimately be successful. Of this I am convinced. And of this, I am most thankful!
…The developers of “Frogger” . . . oy!!
LOVE IT!!! Love you!!
Always learning from you.