Gratitude

A few years ago as I started my teaching career in Saskatoon I started hearing the word, "engaged" around all things teaching. Then a year or two later, I started hearing it EVERYWHERE.  It turns out engaged isn't just a buzz work for education, it is a buzz word for a multitude of companies and disciplines. I have been talking with my counsellor about gratitude and in the last few weeks I have felt such a connection with that term. Now, everywhere I turn I am inundated with it. I see posts about gratitude on some of my favorite blogs, I read quotes about it on Facebook, and I hear about it when I turn on the radio and t.v. Gratitude is the new buzz word, but I don't care. I like it.

My new intention is to try to feel gratitude in all facets of my daily life.  I have a long habit of finding sadness in change. I remember feeling so down on around my 18th birthday because 18 meant you were an adult and I loved being 17 and still classified as a kid.  In many ways I dreaded the end of University because I loved that life and didn't want to leave the comfort of friends I had found the previous few years. Now, instead of dwelling on leaving the past, I am going to be focus on being thankful that I have had the experiences. Boone is not a baby anymore and I feel a bit of sadness as he moves out of one stage into the next. Instead of allowing myself to be overwhelmed with sadness, I am going to smile when I put away clothes that are too small, because I have a healthy boy who is growing. Gratitude. I am going to be thankful when I drop Boone off a daycare, because I got to spend a whole year at home with him and I have the most amazing job that allows me to spend every evening, weekend, and the entire summer enjoying him. Gratitude. 

Feeling thankful is better than feeling sad. I know that focusing on being thankful won't always be easy and it won't eliminate all of my negative feelings, but the more I train my brain to think this way, the more naturally I am going to feel gratitude.

This new shift in thinking goes hand-in-hand with my desire to own my decisions. Taking better control of my thinking is going to help me be a better me. I am hoping I feel more satisfaction and less longing for things I can't have. I really want to find a place of peace in my life where I feel satisfied and thankful without needing to make a point of acknowledging that I should feel satisfied and thankful.

I hope you find something to feel thankful for today. Happy Thursday!

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