I started this year on January 1, 2024, writing the first entry in my new Gratitude Journal. I have been writing in my first Gratitude Journal every day since this year. The writing reminds me of what I am grateful for each day. Under the “Positive affirmation” section for the day I recorded the quote from Melody Beattie… “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” It does!
I had just done my cruise of the various morning news shows… ABC… NBC… CNN… Fox… etc… I returned the week prior from two and a half weeks out of the country traveling through the Middle East in Jordan and Egypt. The war in the Gaza between Israel and Hamas was still underway. Tourism was down 80% due to this. The Ukraine was still at war with Russia in trying to protect their sovereignty. Our congress was fighting with immature name-calling. Our former President’s first criminal trial was starting. There were the normal number negative stories covered. I sat there and under the section “I am grateful for,.. in my Gratitude Journal I wrote… “living in the USA, despite our many issues.” The gratitude made sense of the world’s chaos. It brought me peace for today.
I could go the other way and have at times in my distant past. I could have gotten dark and maybe depressed in thinking about the negatives all around me. I chose to see the positive and be grateful for it. So, whatever your troubles may be, I ask you to take a step back and be grateful for what you have – your life.