Filed under: Uncategorized
In the spirit of preparing for Thanksgiving, every year on the first of November my mother would hang up two blank calendars, one for my sister and one for me. Each day we were encouraged to write down one thing we were grateful for. Every year at the start of the month I found myself writing the obvious things, friends and family members, favorite food and toys. As the month progressed I started to get to the more mundane things in life, things we don’t tend to express gratitude for like toilet paper.
Lately I’ve been stressed and rushing about with a negative attitude about a lot of things. I decided I need to go back to that exercise my mom gave me as a child and make a Thankful Calendar this year. But I’m going to do it with a little different focus. When I find that negative attitude coming on, I’m going to figure out why I’m grateful for that experience.
Like this morning, I was sitting in traffic, aggravated because I felt like moving not sitting waiting. I was thinking about “all the gas I was wasting” and how I was going to be late to work. I caught myself in the negative attitude and changed it to, “I’m so grateful I have a car and don’t have to walk (ride a bike, take the bus, etc) 13 miles to work each day.” I then turned the radio on and listed to the antics of morning radio.
With my Thankful Calendar as a tool, I believe I can sort of revolutionize my negative attitude and train myself to be positive and appreciative again. Today maybe I’ll write down that I’m thankful for Thankful Calendars!
