Gratitude is a Process

Flanna at the aquarium on Saturday.  Love that girl!

This morning, our new priest spoke about gratitude.  It was such a nice little message for me to hear as I head into a busy week, chock full of travel for work and deadlines and meetings and Flanna's fall break (during which the poor thing gets to hang at day camp while we work).  I wish we could all take a week off and go camping or something, but, alas, our work schedules just don't allow for that.

Anyway, one of the things that stood out today to me in the message from our priest was the way he talked about choosing gratitude over and over as a way to keep ourselves from falling into selfishness.  I had never thought of it that way, but maybe that's what is so uplifting about being thankful--that it pulls us out of a self-focus and into a "bigger than me" focus.  I also liked that he talked about how we don't just become thankful once and then forever stay that way--it's something we have to work at, as we're pulled in a zillion directions all throughout our lives, and none of them are usually towards selflessness or gratitude.

So, this week, as I try to finish up a thousand projects and prepare for my work trip out of town, I'm hoping to be mindful of choosing thankfulness over and over, and moving myself forward in the process of creating a spirit of gratitude.

And here's a start:  Today I'm thankful for talking to my sister on the phone this week, yay!  And for seeing good old friends in Monterey!  And for my fabulous husband who let me sleep in on Saturday morning!  And for the anticipation of our cousin Molly's wedding!  And for having a few seconds to blog and take a step back to reflect on this too-fast life!




What about you?  Do you find that you really have to make a choice to cultivate gratitude, or are you lucky and it comes naturally to you?