An Invitation To Gratitude

This year, I sense that I have received an invitation to gratitude. An invitation to go further in my gratitude practices.

An Invitation To Gratitude

We are living in tough times. Just when we think that the pandemic is over, another strain hits us. Gratitude is a deliberate choice to see our blessings, even in the midst of tough times, receive them as a gift—and to give thanks.

We are invited to be grateful. Gratitude moves our hearts to a deeper awareness that we have been blessed. This in turn opens our hearts to ensure others are blessed. Gratitude is part of healing ourselves and the world.

What I’m Grateful For In January

It’s been an interesting month for me, as I’ve struggled with some health issues that kept me from following the plan I made for the month. I wrote about this yesterday when I shared my Word of The Year January update. The outcome is that I’ve learned the importance of rest and for that I’m grateful.

There have been a lot of blessings that I enjoyed through the month – a most supportive partner, meaningful conversations, some walks, great food, funny experiences with the community dogs that we feed, and the delight that our Lucky gives us. Our grief at the loss of Pablo is still raw (yesterday made one year for him), but we also smile at all the lovely memories we have him. He was a blessing and continues to be one.

José and I celebrated 15 years of marriage. Not sure where the time went – but I’m ever so grateful for the gift he is to me. We celebrated at home. With the pandemic raging again, we’re doing all we can to stay safe and keep others safe. That’s another thing I’m so grateful for – that we’ve managed to avoid being hit by Covid. It’s a combination of good sense and grace!

I’ve mentioned before, that I’m not very much of a telephone person any more, and even more so in recent years. But I’ve had some good telephone conversations during the month – which have been meaningful to me and hopefully the other person.

Since I’ve decided to ease back on book reviews and book challenges, I’m enjoying reading a lot more! I’ve managed to read quite a few books already and have some great ones I plan to read.

Despite the fact that this is a no-challenge year for me, I couldn’t resist taking part in a five day Hope Writer Instagram challenge. It was a good experience as I saw some really meaningful posts from friends and also found some new people to follow.

There’s so much to be thankful for, but I’m going to stop here.

Some Gratitude Practices I’m Following

1. Everyday Gratitude – writing 3 things that I’m grateful for at the end of each day. There are some repeats, but it increases my awareness and gratitude to write this every night.
2. Gratitude art journal – I’m not an artist – but I love to play with colours. I’ve decided to create an art journal focused mainly on gratitude. The exercise below is inspired by Kristi Nelson’s book – Wake Up Grateful – The Transformative Practice Of Taking Nothing For Granted, which I reviewed here. Kristi talks of 5 Guiding Principles: Life is a Gift, Everything is Surprise, The Ordinary is Extraordinary, Appreciation is Generative and Love is Transformative.

3. This monthly post at the start of each month, looking back on the previous month. I’ve decided to revive my monthly feature – Everyday Gratitude.

What did January bring into your life that you are thankful for. Would you like to join me in this monthly feature?