I am grateful for Lisa & Wiffledust!!  Haven't had this much fun with my photography in a long time!  Thank you :-)

I have not been feeling a lot of gratitude lately...the last episode being that I fainted Friday and injured my chin and lip...and very sore all over.

I have also not been feeling gratitude for surviving my heart attack last September by helicopter because I have to take so many meds along with their complications.

It occurs to me that I have a lot to be grateful for, and I am going to try to access it as a project for 10 minutes a day. It is something my soul needs.

I will be posting a lot here.

I will start now: I am glad this discussion is here so I can be able to openly express my gratitude

sherry:  you really have had a hard row to hoe. and it's completely understandable why you wouldn't be feeling particularly grateful. but i know, from personal experience and from that of others, that focusing on what we have helps. it's good to know what we want too, what's missing, so that we can move towards it. for example, you want to be in better health and off those meds. i bet that can happen. and one way it can is by what you're doing. increasing the goodness in the day, reducing stress, enjoying the moment. that HAS to be good for what frustrates you, you know?

which leads me to helen...NOW i see what you mean. just like i was saying to sherry, frustration and disappointment DOES lead us to know  how important something is. it's not bad to feel this stuff, because wanting and yearning pushes us towards what we want. what we have to do though is to always in find the beauty in the moment as we move towards it. thanks, you guys. i think it's cool that we're sharing this journey together!

i'm really grateful for that post, maryanne. i love the way you put it "i deliberately express gratitude to help keep me focused towards enjoying life no matter what...". that is very profound. focused on enjoying life. sounds simple, but it's actually a very complicated line. ....i'm grateful for all sizes and shapes of fans. hassock fans, ceiling fans, window, fans, and the best of all...the ones in the air conditioning units! :-)

This beautiful morning this is how I am feeling within and I am dancing all over the place!

http://youtu.be/Ri9PpFVyVhE

Very clever video. Fun

I am grateful for Angela, or as I call he, Angel...ahhhh.

She is a body worker who gives more than hands on. She is a natural healer!

I am grateful for being able to access my gratitude. I am realizing it is a choice, and the only way to stop negative self talk and spiraling downward.

A friend of mine recently issued a challenge to do one thing every day for 10 minutes for a month and write about it. It could be taking a photograph, writing pages of a novel, etc. I decided to spend mine on actively engaging in getting in touch with gratitude. So, posting here is part of my process.

In a world filled with doubt, fear and negativity, this is a safe haven and a wonderful place to share with kindred spirits!

I love all beautiful stories and the sharing of Gratitude :-) Hugs for all!

Today, my gratitude is for being able to real myself back from the "edge" of just this side of going crazy. (Breathing deeply) I am always so thankful that in a nano second I can go from sane to crazy to sane again... I think getting my daughter ready to move is messing with my equilibrium!

Today I practiced an exercise called" the inner smile". You sit , eyes closed, and smile. You think of something that makes you smile. You breathe in, hold  breath, and breathe out....releasing that warm smile energy into your body. Then you smile at every part of you body, in the same manner. The exercise is about sending love to every part of your body.

I am grateful for my body..and accessing my inner smile.

Today's gratitude exercise came while I was doing my morning stretches.

I started thinking about people...men in particular...whom I perceived had "done me wrong." I caught myself and sent them off with a smile. My thoughts were/are"why should I fill my mind with hurtful negative thoughts?. I am the one suffering.  Why would I allow someone to have the power to take me away from my joy? Why, indeed?

My gratitude for today is that I have the power to change my thoughts and create space for joy and good thoughts to fill up that space.

today this is a no thinking needed thing...for my great family and friends who do for me the stuff i can't do with left hand...and only one good foot...they even bring me food and chocolate...also very grateful i can eat with my left hand almost as well as my right....

Matt...i am a cynic but once i get thinking of what i am grateful for it gets easier....

i'm wishing you a speedy healing, nancy! i miss your fb posts already xxxx!  it all boils down to chocolate, doesn't it? ;-)

i think science says that we're all born with a certain degree of optimism or pessimism. but it's also determined by how we were raised and what experiences we've had. and they've also determined that we can teach ourselves to be optimistic...and like nancy, says, our ability to be optimistic can significantly increase. .....i'm not into the happy ho ho of some new age thought, and i am not into waiting around for a second coming either. i tend to think the second coming comes and goes. but i'm certainly no expert. but what i do know is that we are given this day. in this day there will be some gross stuff and some good stuff. what we focus on tends to expand. so i find that as difficult as it may be to focus on what i'm grateful for, it actually does help to give it a moment every day. it just seems to have some power.

matthew, this site is thankful for you! :-)