Gratitude

Take Time For Gratitude

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If the craziness of the season is starting to get to you then it’s time to take a a few minutes to relax.  Think about what you are grateful for in your life.  It can make a world of difference in how you feel.

It’s that time of year where we are so busy running around we forget to stop and smell the roses.  Okay, I know that’s a cliche.  For most people, at least in the U.S., the rose bushes are dormant this time of year.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t stop to smell the roses figuratively.  Look around for things to be grateful for. It just might be what you need to dress up your mood.

 

 

There are always things, people, and events in everyone’s life that are good. Sometimes we just have to stop rushing through life long enough to see them.

Some things to be grateful for:

  • the smile on your child’s face when you kiss them goodnight
  • a roof over your head
  • food to eat
  • clothes and shoes to wear
  • that fact that you are reading this blog post on a computer – you can read!
  • your dog or cat greeting you when you get home – pets love unconditionally
  • freedom to celebrate your religious holiday
  • your family’s and your own health

The list goes on and on.  Take a few minutes each day to write down the things you are grateful for. Create a gratitude journal with a fancy journal, spiral notebook, or even on your smartphone or computer. It doesn’t matter how you do it.

The important thing is to write down what you are grateful for. Then read it anytime you feel overwhelmed, out of sorts, or depressed. Heck, you might want to read it first thing each morning to dress your day up right.

You’ll be amazed how something this simple can have such a profound positive effect on your attitude.

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” ~Epictetus

“If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.” ~Robert Quillen

 

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

 

 

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Gratitude, Try It On. It Could Be A Perfect Fit!

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It’s that time of year where we are so busy running around we forget to stop and smell the roses.  Okay, I know that’s a cliché.  For most people, at least in this country (U.S.), the rose bushes are dormant this time of year.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t stop to smell the roses figuratively.  Look around for things to be grateful for. It just might be what you need to dress up your mood.

There are always things, people, and events in everyone’s life that are good. Sometimes we just have to stop rushing through life long enough to see them.

Some things to be grateful for:

  • the smile on your child’s face when you kiss them goodnight
  • a roof over your head
  • food to eat
  • clothes and shoes to wear
  • that fact that you are reading this blog post on a computer – you can read!
  • your dog or cat greeting you when you get home – pets love unconditionally
  • freedom to celebrate your religious holiday
  • your family’s and your own health

The list goes on and on.  Take a few minutes each day to write down the things you are grateful for. Create a gratitude journal with a fancy journal, spiral notebook, or even on your smartphone or computer. It doesn’t matter how you do it.

The important thing is to write down what you are grateful for. Then read it anytime you feel overwhelmed, out of sorts, or depressed. Heck, you might want to read it first thing each morning to dress your day up right. You’ll be amazed how something this simple can have such a profound positive effect on your attitude.

Below are some previous posts I wrote about gratitude. Check them out for more motivation and ideas on how you can start wearing gratitude to help put a smile on your face.

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” ~Epictetus

“If you count all your assets, you always show a profit.” ~Robert Quillen

 

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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I Felt Like A Fraud

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Have you ever felt like a fraud?  When someone compliments you do you feel like you deserve it?  Or do you feel like you’re keeping a great big secret from everyone? Are you always fearful that they will find out you’re not as good as they think you are?

This is what happened to me recently.  The other day I was visiting my mother-in-law (MIL) at the rehab center she is in.  She fell down her stairs on Halloween night (some trick!). Fortunately nothing was broken. She is just badly bruised and stiff.

Anyway, her niece (my husband’s cousin) was visiting at the same time.  We were talking about some of little things I do to help stay organized. One was keeping track of how much water I drink during the day.  I have a quart bottle that is filled with water in the morning.  I put a rubber band around the middle of it.  When I fill the bottle for the second quart of the day the rubber band is moved to the top of the container. That way I know if I’m on the first 4 cups of water or the second 4 cups.

I also printed out labels for my MIL to put on her belongings such as lotion, shampoo, books, make-up bag,  etc.  I learned to do this when my mother had her stroke 2 1/2 years ago and was in rehab for several months.  When things are labeled it discourages people from walking off with them and also makes it easier to identify what is hers.

Anyway, my cousin complimented me on how organized I was. Considering that I write a blog and website about organization I should have been thrilled with the compliment.  Yet, inside I felt like a fraud.  All I could think about was how I had a large stack of papers on my desk that needed filing. Then a picture of my sock and underwear drawer flashed across my eyes.  It is a total mess.  I’d picked up some clothes for my MIL when she went to the rehab center and noticed how neat and uncluttered her drawers were. It didn’t matter that she had 6 drawers to put her clothes in and I only have 3. I still felt like a fraud.

Life happens, but sometimes we can be so hard on ourselves.  I’ve had several rough life changing events over the past 4 1/2 years.  They are legitimate excuses for not keeping my home as decluttered or organized as I would like. Yet I still feel guilty about sharing my tips and lessons on organizing when I’ve struggled so much with it lately.

I know I’m expecting way too much from myself.  I’m sure there have been times that you have felt this way also.

The point is life has it’s rough spots.  And when it gets rough there are plenty of lessons to be learned.  We need to look for them.  We need to learn the wisdom they offer us.  We need to use this wisdom to improve our lives. Then we need to pass this wisdom on to others so they can benefit from the lessons.

During the course of our lives we will get knocked off our track many times. Sometimes we accidentally throw ourselves off our own track.  But we need to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off.  Then we need to figure out what to do to either get back on our track or figure out how to navigate the new track that life has put us on at this point in time.

I know this post has been rambling on but I want to pass on the wisdom I’m learning from this.  I’m practicing on not being so hard on myself.

When we feel like a fraud we’re expecting ourselves to be perfect, a standard no one can reach. We’re focusing on what we haven’t gotten done instead of what we have already accomplished. When someone compliments us they are obviously seeing something we’ve done that is good.

Maybe it’s time to see what they are seeing!

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

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Remembering the Lessons Learned After 9/11/01

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As we go about our hectic daily lives have we lost some of the lessons 9/11 taught us? With the election coming up are we focusing too much time and energy on the petty differences and not what’s really important?

Two years ago I wrote a post about remembering 9/11/2001.  I’ve reposted it here because it’s a good reminder of how we should be grateful, caring, and have empathy for our fellow man/woman.  Read the post below and then look back at how you may have treated others in the past week or so.

Remembering 9/11

We go about our days getting irritated by the little things such as someone else’s car accident causing heavy traffic making us late for work. Or we’re behind someone in the grocery store line who doesn’t have enough money and has to decide what to put back, slowing everything down. Now we have to rush to get home so dinner can be served on time.

It’s when we remember tragedies like 9/11 that we put the human factor back into our thinking. Instead of being irritated about being late for work, be grateful you weren’t the one in the accident. Have empathy for the people who were. Their lives will be forever changed, whether it’s only a bad memory of a minor accident or a life changing event due to major injuries or even death of a loved one or friend.

That person in the line at the grocery store may just be unorganized. Or they may be struggling to put food on the table for their children after a job loss or other financial struggles.

We never know what is going to happen to us nor do we know what other people are going through. In the days, weeks, and months following September 11, 2001 most people in this country showed more empathy towards their fellow man/woman. The little irritating things became unimportant. Family, health, friends, a sense of community, caring about others, pride for our country, became the important things.

Unfortunately we seem to have forgotten these things. Since that time we have become a country of people divided on both sides of the fence with a them vs. us attitude. Whether it is the war, health care, the economy, or any other area we are affected by or have an opinion on, maybe it’s time to at least try to see what the other side is seeing. Step into their shoes for just a moment.

We don’t need another 9/11 to remind us of what is important. Just remembering, truly remembering, the feelings we felt that day and beyond can help us get back to recognizing what makes this country great – it’s people caring about each other in spite of their differences.

Janice

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How to Pay the Love of Reading Forward with the Gift of Books

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During this past month there have been so stresses in my life I haven’t spent any time on writing blog posts. I have spent some time taking care of myself to heal some of the emotional wounds that have been building for a long time.

One way I took care of myself was to go to the annual St. Louis Book Fair. It is sponsored by Macy’s as a fundraiser to benefit local non-profit education and literacy programs. It’s been going on for 60 years. I remember going with my mother and sisters when I was a child.

Because I have way too many books for my current bookshelves (their double stacked already) I have avoided going to the fair for about 5 or 6 years. This year was different. It was time to get back to doing something I love. But it also required making a promise to myself to declutter some of the old books so I don’t feel guilty about buying new ones.

With some birthday money (my birthday was last Thursday) I went to the book fair on Friday. I ended up buying 19 books.  Some were cookbooks (3) and the rest were non-fiction books.  I didn’t even go over to the fiction book section because I still have a few I haven’t read yet.

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On Saturday I found a box and started going through one shelf at a time to pull out some books I could get rid of. If you’re a booklover like I am you know how hard it is to let go of them. Since the majority of my books are non-fiction I always feel like I’m giving away a valuable resource. Even with so much information easily available on the internet I still find it had to let them go.

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So far I have 23 books in my box. Yea me! Since I bought 5 books last week at Goodwill (first time there in over a year) plus the 19 books bought at the book fair I feel I have done pretty well so far. Even with pulling that many books off the shelves I still don’t have enough room for the new books.  Therefore I will get another box and work on filling that one.  I have four more bookcases like the two below.

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My local Macy’s store collects books year round for this book fair. My goal is to have a least 30 and hopefully 40 books to take to the loading dock by next week.  I’ll be paying it forward so those books can be sold next year to help support the education and literacy programs. That way more children and adults will be able to learn how to read all the magic and knowledge that books contain between their covers.

There are lots of ways to pay the love of reading forward.  I remember one year I had a garage sale and because it was cold and rainy there were very few customers. Right before closing up a young woman came in looking for children’s books which I had a few. She said she was going to be a new 1st grade teacher in the fall and was buying reading books for her classroom. I gave her the whole pile of books for free. It felt so good to help out a new teacher that would be able to instill the love of reading to her many students.

So pay the love of reading forward by donating your books to a charity, local school, or a new teacher starting out. If you’re not reading them anymore then they aren’t doing anyone any good sitting on your shelves.

To a lighter load along the way.

Janice

 

If you’re planning on having a garage sale be sure to check out the eBook:

“How To Declutter With A Garage Sale”

It will help you from start to finish with clearing the clutter out of your home.

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