Gratitude Attitude

Sometimes in life we are putting too much attention to our future. How the life will be easier when we finally finish something. The kids get bigger. We get more time to do things. When the new office in the back garden gets finished and I will be able to work undisturbed for hours (the building has not even started yet, the clearing phase takes ages, so it still be a while). How it would be nice if we had this and that in our life. The problem is, that when we get there, usually something else happens and we never experience the smooth life we are dreaming about. Most of the time, we just forget to look around and appreciate things in our life we already have today.

I am mainly talking about the ordinary things we are taking for granted until they are no longer there. When they are missing, then we usually start to notice them more. We normally do not think about internet connection, but how bad things get when we loose it? The panic that we cannot look things up or we miss an important email or we can’t do our work properly. Or even water, until repair work shuts everything down.

At the moment I appreciate my freedom to work from home and schedule my own workload. It has it’s own challenges, don’t take me wrong, especially if people around me most of the time do not realise how difficult is to balance running the household and work in the same environment and ask me for lots of favours. Setting boundaries in this case is a must. With summer looming I am thinking of locking my office and putting huge don’t disturb sign on the door. Yet I am reminding myself how fortunate I am to be able to do this and not to have commute long distance to the workplace and be my own boss. How wonderful it is that I can enjoy beautiful views to gardens and walk there anytime I wish. I know I will miss my daughters in September when they will be busy again and will miss our calming walks in the nature. Who knows how long I will be able to do this, so I am enjoying every moment now.

By practicing gratitude we choose to see positive things in our life even if we face lots of challenges. It is not about completely blocking the bad, it is about gently shifting our attention and concentrating on good things in our lives. After while of practicing gratitude we start to trust that everything in our lives happens for a reason, that things does not happen to us but for us. We also realise that we have enough and are enough.

I do have a section in my journal, where I write about gratitude. Not everyday but often enough. I am trying to be as specific and detailed as possible, for example I am grateful for my comfortable bed with fan at night that keep us cool, beautiful warm morning with all the summer flower colours and bird songs, bit of a rain now and then to keep the plants watered and I am also grateful for the internet I can video talk to my mum anytime I wish.

Have you caught yourself recently thinking, things will be easier when…What are grateful for today?