I am grateful for this article that inspired me to change things: I took a different bus and I stopped half way for a long forgotten errand. Then continued on, on a different bus. On my walk home, I met a lady who lives in the house next door. I have never talked to her because she is very loud. So I changed that: I smiled at her and she started talking to me. After a few minutes she nearly stopped so I told her I was one of her neighbor. So then she launched in a 20 minutes talkaton. And then she had places to go so she left. When I told Rolly all the things she told me he laughed and laughed. And I love hearing laugh. So I am grateful for all that was changed and yet to get changed…

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/7962880

I read a sentence recently that influenced me. It was something like “Your life starts where your comfort zone ends.”
This sentence helped me choose to change phone despite a few hurdles along the way. Learning to use an android after an Iphone is not comfortable. And at the same time it is fun to explore new possibilities.
I am grateful I am starting to tame my new phone…
I wonder what other fun is there at the end of my comfort zone…

I made a mistake at work: I forgot to ask someone to complete a form. And when the person needing the form asked me about it, I said I forgot. It was really strange for me to notice that I didn’t make myself wrong for it. In the past, I would have been all flustered for not doing a perfect job. This time, I just apologized and since I was not beating myself for it, I was able to easily offer a solution.
The solution was turned down and I just moved on with my work. And then as if by magic, a few minutes later, the person who needed to fill that form came back and I was able to ask him to complete the form.
I am grateful for being able to be nice to myself and not beat myself up for being less than perfect.
What else is possible?

I met a woman who told me that she woke up every morning wondering what adventure would this new day bring (she has never taken any Access class).
I thought to myself: “I’ll have that” and this morning, it happened: I woke up with a sense of wonder and excitement for the day to come. Happy, thank you, more please!
What grand and glorious adventure will I have today?

Today, as I was not at ease in my body, I had trouble writing about gratitude. I tried asking someone what they were grateful for to see if I got inspired, but that only half inspired me. It inspired me to make a list of one hundred things I am grateful for. And I gave myself permission to put all my limbs on my list and all my organs if necessary. My teeth however only count as one not 30.5 (1.5 of them are are missing)…
While mentally going over this list I noticed the colors of the trees outside. And then I felt it: I am grateful for being able to see colors!
What in your list makes the top today?

Other than more joy, I am also looking for more wonder: being in awe for my life, for what I see, what I experience. I find it strange how we loose this ability to be amazed by stuff. As adult, we’re cool: been there done that…
In the room I moved in recently in Vancouver, a previous tenant had glued glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.  Since I have not been in that room very much since the move, I am still surprised when I turn off the light and see a starry sky above me: what a delight!
So what awe and wonder can you find in your day, today?

I am grateful for a day rich in connections. How did I get so lucky?
I have stopped going through moments of feeling lonely since I started taking classes. I am not sure exactly what did it but even though the outside circumstances did not change, on the inside, I am no longer experiencing this feeling of being alone…
What else is possible?

Gratitude 90:
I am relearning to play. It is not that simple: during my last vacation I participated in my cousin’s ten year old game: jumping in the pool, climbing out, jumping in the pool, climbing out, jumping in the pool and so on… I participated from a research perspective of course :). Part of my brain was asking “what is fun about that?”
It was as if I had to rewire my brain to notice the different body sensations that came up from the game. And my cousin also explained that part of the game is the fact that we’re playing together…
All that to say that I am grateful for playing with my new buble maker from our fourth floor balcony: so much fun!

I love laying in bed with sun shining on me through the window in the morning. It makes me feel like a cat, wanting to purr.
In my gratitude research this morning, I saw the following suggestion:
“Give at least on compliment daily. It can be to a person or it can be asking someone to share your appreciation of something else. (I love how quiet it is in the morning, don’t you?)”
What do you love about today?

Yesterday, I had a fun evening going to the fireworks. Among other things I really enjoy walking down the middle of busy streets (Denman and Robson). I am grateful for being able to walk in the middle of the street and having fun doing it.
While in the sea of human sharing the fireworks with me, I noticed that I was grateful for things for which I was comparing myself to other people. For example,  I was grateful to have all my limbs. Not “just because” but because I saw a young woman who had lost one of her arms.
Often I am grateful for my circumstances being different than those of other people and I was wondering if it is really gratitude when I compare myself to others.
So I did a little research and found an article  that describes gratitude from comparing oneself to others as “Catholic Gratitude”…
The next article called the same thing “downward social comparison” (much less glamourous  than Catholic gratitude)…
In the end, the second article suggested that it all comes down to the question you ask yourself. And one possible question is: what went well today?