Recently, a friend of mine told me that she had been wondering what made us loose our ability to be ourselves. She said that she remember when she was a child not caring about what other people thought of how she dressed or what she did and then some day it changed… That reminded me of a lot of my childhood pictures. In my twenties, I wondered how my parents let me look that way on so many pictures…
Fashion sense is not my thing. Being happy is what I am after, so now I am grateful that my parents let me not care about how I was dressed and allowed me to be me.

Yesterday, in class, the facilitator talked about how skillful we can become at aweful-izing life. We can be so skillful at it that we are no longer conscious that we’re doing it. In the same line of thought, I believe that I have become very skillful at not being in awe of life / being alive. And I have learned that becoming aware of something is the first step to changing it. Being grateful for what and who is in my life is the beginning of my rehab program into enjoying life more and more and more… I am grateful for those who are witness to this process.

I dreamed that Hugh Grant was my boss. And then I was surviving a flood, climbing a mountain, being late for a train and so on but the first thing I remembered when I woke up was having dreamed of Hugh Grant. I am grateful for entertaining dreams!

I read something in French that said some like:
Making someone laugh is great intimacy.
When someone makes me laugh, I consider it a gift.
I am grateful for the person who wrote this. It made me chuckle.

Last night, before falling asleep, I realized how safe I feel in my bed. I never thought of that before. And looking at it further, I realized that I have always felt safe in my bed (especially from the monsters under the bed). I am grateful for this feeling of being safe.

I remember an episode of Ally McBeal where Ally demonstrates for one of her colleagues how to appreciate her morning cappuccino or latte. I think of it often as I take the fist sip of my morning beverage and enjoy the physical sensations from this first sip.
I heard a teacher once say “may all sentient beings experience this”
I think of that too when I enjoy my first sip.
In gratitude articles, a common thread is about being more aware of the things that bring pleasurable sensations through the senses…
I am grateful for this wonderful first sip, for the creaminess, the warmth, the deliciousness. Thank you body for this wonderful experience!

Next weekend, I am going to a class that is a repeat of one of the first class that I took four years ago in my quest of making my life better and better and better…
I was thinking about the people I will see there and how to summarize where I am at now. It made me realize that I am living the best time of my life so far. And I plan on still making it better and better and better.
How does it get any better than that?

I am excited. I am grateful for being excited.
I am going on a day trip adventure to Seattle.
I remember when Seattle was a city I had heard of, far far away, that belonged to another world. And now, I get to go just for the day.
How does it get any better than that?
In my excitement, I forgot to post this. I am also grateful for my joymobile and wonderful traveling companions.

For me, gratitude is to increase my feeling of awe. When we grow up we lose our ability to appreciate, to be in awe, to do what gives us joy. Sure, there is the fact that after a while we easily get “been there done that”, but we don’t have to.
I love sunsets no matter how many I’ve seen. So I sometimes go out of my way to see one and in doing so I practice increasing my sense of awe at the beauty I see in the sunset.
Where else could we cultivate my sense of awe?

My dad and I debated about the meaning of the word gratitude. In French, the word is strongly attached to the synonym of indebtedness (obligation en français). My perception is that in English it isn’t. I found a small explanation on that:
” Comparison with indebtedness (obligation):
Gratitude is not the same as indebtedness. While both emotions occur following help, indebtedness occurs when a person perceives that they are under an obligation to make some repayment of compensation for the aid. The emotions lead to different actions; indebtedness can motivate the recipient of the aid to avoid the person who has helped them, whereas gratitude can motivate the recipient to seek out their benefactor and to improve their relationship with them.”
And gratitude can also arrise independently from any help received. I can be grateful for someone just because I like this person, not just because they help me.

Either way, when I talk about gratitude, I am referring to the synonym appreciation. There is something that happens inside of us when we acknowledge the things or people we appreciate. It’s magical!