Thursday, November 24, 2011

Gratitude Challenge: 100 Things I'm Grateful For!

I've had times in the past where I've kept a gratitude journal, where I write five (or any number) of things I'm grateful for in that day, that moment. I've enjoyed this practice very much in the times I've stuck to it. I think there's something really profound about focusing on the tiniest of pleasant things that happen in a day, like someone holding the door for me at a store, or getting to eat a tasty dinner at home with my family.

I figured since I've talked a fair amount lately about the hard times we've been having, and the things I don't enjoy, that there's nothing better to follow all of that up with than a great big dose of gratitude. So, I've taken on the Let's Take the Metro Gratitude Challenge: to write a list of 100 things I'm grateful for to post on Thanksgiving Day.


It took me longer than I wanted, but I did it! Here are (only) a hundred things I'm grateful for, though there are so many more:

(In no particular order) I am grateful for...
  1. Jaymz
  2. Daniel
  3. All of my family members
  4. and friends
  5. including the incredible NPN volunteers
  6. Oxygen 
  7. The smells of Thanksgiving!
  8. Delicious food, including:
  9. Gluten free baked goods
  10. Sweet Winter squash
  11. Soup
  12. Honey 
  13. Chocolate 
  14. Coffee
  15. Convenience foods
  16. Food carts (and the people who run them)
  17. The farmers who cultivate all the food I eat
  18. The many farmers' markets we can visit on a regular basis
  19. Heat for my house
  20. A comfortable bed to sleep in
  21. A deep freezer to keep food for later
  22. Salty baths 
  23. Candles
  24. Breastfeeding
  25. Oxytocin (and all the happy brain chemicals)
  26. Heavy things that help to calm Daniel down
  27. Lisa (our OT)
  28. OT itself and
  29. my ability to learn new things
  30. The plasticity of Daniel's brain
  31. Gregorian chant
  32. Daniel's truly joyful times
  33. Haircuts that go smoothly 
  34. American Sign Language (because it helps Daniel communicate more effectively!)
  35. Persistence
  36. Baby carriers (and babywearing)
  37. Rocking chairs
  38. Warm sweaters
  39. Thick blankets
  40. Fuzzy socks
  41. My sewing machine
  42. Creativity
  43. Tea time
  44. Cloth diapers
  45. Wool 
  46. Cotton
  47. Bamboo
  48. Hemp
  49. Our cats
  50. Beautiful art
  51. The Portland Saturday Market (running since 1973!)
  52. Hugs (especially the really squeezy, not-letting-go-right-away kind)
  53. Getting the opportunity to watch a television program with Jaymz some evenings
  54. Cooking dinner together (even when we don't get any "us time")
  55. Vacations
  56. Freecycle
  57. Generous strangers
  58. Deep breaths
  59. Earplugs (things are loud here a lot)
  60. My tree
  61. Bicycles and 
  62. bike lanes and
  63. bike seats for little ones!
  64. The MAX (our public light rail train)
  65. City parks
  66. Telephones
  67. 9-1-1 service and 
  68. friendly & responsive police officers
  69. Fire departments
  70. Libraries
  71. Urgent care doctors
  72. Modern medicine and
  73. ancient ("alternative") remedies and healthcare alike
  74. Counseling (and my incredible therapist)
  75. Powell's Books
  76. Local businesses
  77. Improvised toys (like this box car)
  78. Yoga practice
  79. The internet, including
  80. web applications,
  81. open-source software,
  82. web comics, and
  83. Netflix instant play
  84. Blogs by so many thoughtful and insightful writers (for my reading pleasure!)
  85. Swimming
  86. A helpful and knowledgeable realtor and
  87. mortgage broker and
  88. insurance agent on our team
  89. Health insurance
  90. Jaymz's job (which he loves!)
  91. My shop (it's so fun to create things for others!)
  92. Handmade gifts
  93. Credit card rewards of the cash back and
  94. free airline ticket varieties 
  95. Soothing rain
  96. Fog
  97. The moon
  98. This gorgeous and incredible planet we live on
  99. Everyone who cares about me and my family and is affected when things are difficult for us
  100. All the people I'm not even totally aware of who play a part in supporting my quality of life.
Thank you for reading. I hope you have a joyous and blessed Thanksgiving (fellow Americans). Now it's time for me to go eat with my family!


Linked up with the other Gratitude Challenge participants' incredible lists of things to be grateful for at Let's Take the Metro. Head on over there to read all the things these folks have to be thankful for this holiday season.

What are you feeling most grateful for today?

10 comments:

  1. LOVE how you made it all flow so nicely. Felt like I was reading 1 never ending thought :) (I wanted to type continuous but that spelling does not look right to me haha)
    This has to be one of the best blogging challenges I have seen/participated in/read in a long time. I need to book mark all of these posts tomcome back and read when I need a pick me up!

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  2. Great list! Succinct, and comprehensive. =) Question unrelated to gratitude, although I will be grateful if you have a chance to answer, do you have insurance for your small business? I'm looking at opening an etsy shop but wondering about insurance; I can't anticipate making enough money to be able to afford insurance, let alone supplies and hopefully an income on top of that. What do you think? I love your etsy stuff!

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  3. Ah, this is a wonderful list! It really is amazing what focusing on gratitude can do! I am behind on my reading, so forgive me if you've mentioned it already, but - are you buying a house!? That's awfully exciting :)

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  4. @melissa v: Thank you for the compliments! No, I do not have small business insurance. I look forward to hearing more about your shop!

    @melissa k: Thanks! We are trying to buy a house, but I haven't written about it at all. We're kind of at a stand-still right now, playing the waiting game. Hopefully there will be some progress soon! =)

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  5. TY! =) Enjoy your Sabbath... xxoo And good luck with the house!

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  6. My favorite part of this list was when you mentioned being able to watch a "television program" with your hubby on some evenings, just because it sounds so prim and proper and...1950's esque :) It cracked me up. Of course, I loved the rest of the list as well and I enjoyed the readability of it along with the pictures :) Thank you for sharing your gratitude :)

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  7. لدى شركة الرياض للتنظيف أفضل العمال والفنيين الأجانب والمحليين لصيانة الموظفين المدربين على أعلى مستوى من الخبرة والكفاءة في مجال تنظيف الألواح حيث تقوم الشركة بتدريب كل فترة دورات مكثفة للعمالة والفنيين على استخدام أحدث المعدات في التنظيف والطرق الحديثة في صيانة أو تنظيف المجالس لتكون مؤهلة ولديها قدر كبير من الخبرة والمسؤولية لأداء الخدمة المطلوبة منها إلى أقصى حد
    شركة النجوم لخدمات التنظيف
    شركة كشف تسربات المياه بمكة
    شركة تنظيف بمكة
    شركة تنظيف خزانات بمكة

    ReplyDelete
  8. يمكنكم أن تقوما بالاتصال بنا عبر الأرقام الموضحة لديكم وذلك على مدار اليوم، كما يمكنكم أن تقوموا بالتواصل معنا عبر مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي مثل الفيس بوك وتويتر والانستجرام،
    وقد أتاحت الشركة خدمة التواصل عبر تطبيق الواتس أب وذلك حرصا على سهولة التواصل مع العملاء، ويقوم فريق متخصص بالرد على كافة استفسارات العملاء على مدار اليوم وطوال أيام الأسبوع،
    وكل ما عليكم هو الاتصال بنا لنصلكم أينما كنتم في الرياض، نحن نقوم بخدمة كافة أحياء الرياض سواء شمال الرياض أو جنوب الرياض
    أو منطقة الوسط، وعقب الاتصال يصلكم فريق من عمالتنا المتخصصة لنقل السجاد إلى مغاسلنا المنتشرة في كافة مناطق الرياض .

    شركة الصفرات لتنظيف المنازل بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لعزل الاسطح بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لتنظيف المجالس بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لتنظيف السجاد بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لنقل الاثاث بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لمكافحة الحشرات بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لكشف التسربات بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لتنظيف المسابح بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لتنظيف الخزانات بالرياض
    شركة الصفرات لتسليك المجاري بالرياض

    ReplyDelete

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