If you listen to any of the local/state/national news programs on any given day, you would think the entire world is imploding. Or, as my grandmother used to say - often!- going to Hell in a handbasket.
From religious wars, to the opioid crisis, to the never-ending Covid pandemic; the racial inequality and injustice we have in this country, the gender divide, even the stalemate in our own government about anything and everything, makes it seem like we have nothing to live for, nothing to be happy about, nothing to be thankful for.
My husband's cure for this is to simply turn the news off. Out of sight, out of mind, according to him.
That's a little too much like being an ostrich with its head in a hole during a wildebeest stampede for me. I prefer to be informed, but I don't let the state of the world as we've come to know it, influence my psyche.
The reason? Every day I am grateful to be alive.
Truly.
I know it sounds sappy to some, but I am so happy to be on this earth right now. I wake daily with the first thought being, This is a new day. New opportunities to latch on to. New challenges to overcome.
And I am truly thankful I get to be present and experience them all.
Several years ago, in 1996, when Oprah was still doing her daily show, she had Sarah Ban Breathnach on as a guest. Sarah had just published The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude and it was flying off the shelves ( this was preKindle, peeps!)
The description for the book on Amazon states:The Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude offers insight via uplifting, inspirational quotes and gives women a place to record their daily moments of gratitude. Through daily practice, this journal can help you embrace everyday epiphanies: profound moments of awe that forever alter your experience of the world.
I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and claim it was with the advent of the book for sale that journaling became a hot "thing."
I was one of the 5 million buyers who purchased the book, and its predecessor SIMPLE ABUNDANCE, and read it diligently every day for a year and recorded the 5 things I was grateful for every day.
I don't write my daily 5 down anymore, but I do think about them during the day.
This morning's 5 things were:
1.I am grateful to be alive
2. I am grateful for my health and that of my family
3. I am grateful I believe in science
4. I am grateful I have kept my parents alive and healthy during the pandemic
5. I am grateful I am going to be a first-time grandmother in 6 weeks.
So again, I am thankful every single day to be alive.
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11 comments:
Yeah, speaking from experience becoming a 1st time grandmother is a Very Big Deal!!!
I do my Gratitudes at night - looking back on my day although I do stop in the moment and note what I'm grateful for --- like picking my home grown tomatoes, finishing a project or just taking a walk around the block.
My bff says "Thank You" at least 3 times when she first wakes up. Noting attached to the words - just simple "Thank Yous". She says it has made a big difference...and when the inspiration strikes she says more as she goes through her day...not thinking the words but saying them outloud.
Nice post, Peggy. Best wishes for the new mama and baby! Enjoy being a grandma!
Judith - I think saying them at night is a lovely way to be thankful for the day you've had. WHen I say my prayers at night I always say thankyou for the day I've had, not specific things, though. Love that you do that. Peg
Lynn - thank you! i totally intend to, hee hee
Expressing gratitude on a regular basis is a good antidote to feeling overwhelmed by negativity. And when I experience beauty, I thank God for this wonderful gift on the spot.
Turning off the news helps for some people, too. I have found cutting way back on the amount of time I spend consuming news helps. I realized I need to strike a balance between bearing witness to what is happening, and turning the things I can't change over to God.
Articles on www.GoodNewsNetwork.org help to counter all the negativity as well.
Great post, Peggy!!!
Thankyou, Sarah!
Congrats! on becoming a first time grandparent. I'll second what Judith said, it's a very big deal! Even now 12 grandkids later it's still a big deal.
I pray at night for things I'm grateful for. I used to keep a journal but that practice has fallen by the wayside. I am grateful off and on through out the day for different things: the deer and turkeys in my yard, the flowers, my children and their families, my home my health etc.
Nice post!
Love this, Peggy - I am like your husband - the ostrich. I want to know what is going on and I do keep track on a day-to-day basis, but sometimes, to self-preserve, I have to turn off the news and bury my head in the sand to clear my brain. My other escape is writing and reading (your books included.) I'm not sure how I would survive without my Kindle filled with romances. So thanks to you, as one who is on my rather LONG list of favorite writers.
Deb
PS - enjoy that thrill of being a new grandmother. It never gets old and is one of the biggest blessings of a lifetime.
Diana - 12!!!! Yowza. I can only hope, but with an only child....hahaha.
Saying my prayers at night as always given me a sense of peace as I approach the night. It's funny how the practices of our childhood that we sometimes saw as a chore, can, as an adult, bring us comfort.
Peg
DEb - you're such a sweetheart! Thank you for those kind words. I don't begrudge my husband his ability to tune stuff out. I just like being prepared for what is going on and what may effect me.
Oh well... again, thanks.
Peggy, My husband is the same way--on ostrich. He's always been a little that way, but it has been to the extreme for five years now and I don't know if he will ever go back to watching the news. It's not that he is oblivious to the world, he does read/scan the newspaper every morning. But, for him, there is a difference between reading words or choosing not to read more of an article and being forced to see the worst parts in video clips.
I think it is so hard because his identity is to see things and come up with a way to fix them. He doesn't see a way to fix the world right now, and he feels that any small thing he might do is so insignificant that the best way to deal is to refuse to see them.
I'm like you. I need to know what is going on and that allows me to make a decision about what, if anything, I can do about it. Often what I can do are seemingly small things, like voting or writing my representatives, but when put together with other efforts can be big things. Often small things I can do, like focusing locally on one person or one group can become a big thing because we never know who we are helping and what they may do in the future.
I've known many people who do gratitude journals and I admire you for being so consistent at it for a long period of time. I don't think I've ever done that. If I did it would have been part of a "homework" assignment that lasted only for the prescribed period. However, I am thankful every day for many small things; and sometimes for something big like a new grandchild (we now have five and we are told that's it). I also make a daily note in my mind for being alive and relatively healthy. Already, we have outlived several relatives who were younger than us when they passed.
I do believe that as you age you have to make a decision. Are you going to look at what is going well and be grateful? Or are you going to bemoan what you are losing? There is space for both, but which is going to be the ruler of your daily life? There is a lot of loss as we get older--physical loss, mental losses, actual deaths of friends and family, changes in economics are more profound, and for some idealistic views or dreams they had are seemingly dashed.
But...there is also a lot of beauty if one is willing to see it and let its light draw us out for more. Seeing that beauty and being a part of it every day is what sustains hope in me. Yes, there are dark days on occasion but I work hard to make sure they do not become the ruling force of my daily life.
Thank you again, Peggy, for such an uplifting post!
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