On gratitude and all that jazz…

We are mostly grateful when we feel extremely happy and see light where in other moments we would see nothing but pitch dark. We seem to be able to connect the dots and fully understand how, one not so happy place, brought us the good in our lives. Funnily, we think less about being grateful when we are down and need it the most. In these dark times we seem unable to make the same connections and are unable to make sense of anything.

However, if we take full advantage of the times we are up and happy, we can cram all the great things in our lives, big and small. These, we will inevitably remember and hopefully will creep up when we go though one of our dark nights, allowing for some light to break into the darkness.

Everything counts, as today I myself thought. Some things, which I was grateful for were silly, others not so much, which deeply changed my life. Yes, I was happy today, so I could play around and rescue moments and facts to connect the dots and be grateful.

 Some silly and not so silly random grateful thoughts: 

• I was born into a bilingual family, which led me to find my passion in language teaching.
• I never had to obsess about and  spend hours shaving my legs. Not a hairy person.
• I’m not rich but since I moved to the states I have been able to travel as never before.
• I’m in my mid forties and I can see almost perfectly.
• I can still run thanks to my Dad’s obsession with a fit life.
• Thanks to my melanoma I am more aware of “life.”
• If my heart hadn’t been broken “once,” I wouldn’t be aware of how others felt and what they have gone through. This has made me much more empathetic.
• Had I not done a silly “over-pill-popping” I wouldn’t have been able to help others “not do the same.”
• All I’ve suffered has made me who I am today, again: very empathetic towards others.
• All my mistakes have turned into laughing matters I can now share!
• My road to “now” has attracted the best people. (OK, not always, some creeps have made their way in, but ultimately the exception to the rule.)
• My stick figure allows extra space on planes.
• I live in sunny California, well, foggy SF, but yet, a beautiful place.

There are many more, but if you sit in one of those happy moments and think up a list, when you are down, you are more likely to remember those things, big and small you are grateful for.

What are you grateful for?