Appreciative

December 14 – Appreciate What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it? (Author: Victoria Klein)

This year, 2010, I found a new awakening in being appreciative for things around me. In the past year I have:

 

• I was let go from my position.
• I lost a number of friends due to a disagreement
• My husband’s hours were dropped substantially
• I got super sick, and was diagnoses with an obscure disease
• I had surgeries galore
• I had a mental break down
• I started counseling
• We lost our condo
• We filed for bankruptcy
• We lost our cars in the process

Out of all these things, I’m still alive. I am still ticking. I am still motivated to be better, do better and connect with what makes me “me.” I started my gratitude project last January because of these very things happening to me. I was depressed enough not to see the joy in every day life. I literally forced myself on some days to focus one what I was appreciative for, and what I as thankful for. When you’re faced with adversity, trials and tribulations, you’re forced to look for some glimmer of light. This past year these are the areas I was most focused on.

I appreciate my husband, and all he does to keep us in health and home.

I appreciate my friends, who support the changes I have been making.

I appreciate my son, he’s been such a teacher in my life.

I appreciate working, I am thankful and grateful for a position that pays.
I appreciate our landlord, who gave us a 2^nd chance knowing we filed bankruptcy.

I express my gratitude in different ways.Each day I find a new way to pass it on, pay it forward, or just smile genuinely to a total stranger.