Grateful

The sty in my eye meditation

triciajenkins2001Leave a comment

Got a sty in my eye. Doctor prescribed hot compresses twice a day.

At first, sitting still for 10 minutes with my eyes held captive by the compress is annoying. But, the moist warmth on my face is actually relaxing. And because I can’t see my phone, computer, TV, laundry, weeds, dishes, I give in to the warmth and darkness. “Ok Google. Play ocean sounds.” Soon, thoughts leave my head and go swooshing towards the horizon where they dissipate leaving me sitting cross-legged on the sand at the edge of the waves with no thoughts at all.

I’m grateful for this temporary forced relaxation.

I’m grateful because…

triciajenkins2001Leave a comment

tiger-498543_1920-2I am grateful for my health.
I am grateful that I am healthy.
I am grateful because I am healthy.

You may be one of those people who writes about gratitude every day. If you do, here’s a suggestion – add the word “because.”

After many years of writing my daily gratitude list, I got bored. I suspect that your gratitude list and mine are similar. Of course, we’re grateful for family and friends, our home, pets, health, job, etc. All boring expected expressions  of gratitude, blah, blah, blah. So I started adding “because” to give depth and meaning to my gratitude, to drill down to the reason why I’m grateful. For example:

  • Today I’m grateful for my husband because he’s purposely watching TV in the bedroom with the door closed so I can write in peace in the kitchen.
  •  I’m grateful for the beautiful weather today because I want to spruce up the planter in the front yard.
  • And, I’m grateful for my new neighbors because they’re friendly and so are their three big dogs.

My daily gratitude list is more defined because I’m stating why. Every day, I’m grateful for my husband because…