Gratitude

As the birds chirp their morning song, the air cools and the suns golden rays begin their dance across our part of the world. A time to be grateful I am still here; still alive, still have hopes, dreams and aspirations. Each new moment offering opportunity to work towards fulfilling those and each new breath reminding me how fortunate I am to have good health, a somewhat ‘sane-ish’ mind and relatively few limitations. I am saddened to say that some years ago I would become annoyed with people who did not seem to be aware how fortunate they were to have what I have now. Back then I was in the grips of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia was at its ripest. Some days I couldn’t do much at all and at its worst, for a period of about three weeks or more, I couldn’t do a single thing for myself. I couldn’t get out of bed, go to the bathroom or shower myself unassisted, I couldn’t feed myself, let alone prepare something to eat and even worse, I could barely have a two minute conversation with my loved ones who were taking care of me. It was a time when I slept eighteen hours a day, not out of choice but because that is what my body was doing. As I began to recover and function again, I rejoiced with sheer gratitude that I could move by myself or do something for myself. Each day offered promise that I would be less fatigued, in less pain and able to do more, although I have to add that I would choose pain any day over debilitating chronic fatigue! Each day also presented bewilderment at how little people seemed to realise how lucky they were to go about their daily lives with energy and a cooperating body. At times, that annoyed me, not because I was feeling woe-is-me but rather that they seemed to lack appreciation and gratitude. As I thought about it I remembered how all things are relative and you cannot truly understand something unless you have experienced it firsthand. These folks enjoying their energetic lives didn’t lack appreciation and gratitude; they weren’t horrible, selfish, self-centered folk without a caring cell in their body. They were just doing what so many of us do – going about our daily lives without being truly mindful of what they have to be appreciative of and grateful for. Sometimes it takes adversity for us to stop and see what and who are in our lives that make it amazing. Many a motivator and even some health professionals have suggested we write in a gratitude journal so we can mindfully look at our worlds, noting a few things/people/experiences we are grateful for and start our days on a positive note. So I will leave you with this question – what are you grateful for today? Take a few minutes to give it some thought. See how you feel afterwards and if it is for someone in your life that makes a difference, go one step further and tell them. I am grateful for you taking some precious time out of your day to read this post. Have a great day folks! Gratitude all the way!