a grateful heart

Of course being the week of Thanksgiving I have thought a lot about my many blessings. I have tried to cultivate a feeling of gratitude throughout the year. But when times get hard, I don't instinctively think of all the good that is going on; I just allow myself to be miserable and do so by piling on more miserable thoughts through it all including all the things I don't have... 

You guys don't do this right?? I'm just a bad person? 

Anyways, as Thanksgiving approaches I've been reflecting on all the things I'm grateful for in my life and in this past year. I feel like Thanksgiving always comes at a perfect time of the year (well, scheduled) when I need that kick in the rear to spend more time focusing on my blessings instead of the trials from the year. It also is definitely wise to have it before Christmas where we can feel joyful and more satisfied and {hopefully} not get too caught up in what we want. 

So this week for family night we made a little gratitude tree listing some things we are grateful for on each leaf. Adam said he was grateful for teeth (hi, future dentist), Elijah, and books. Elijah said he was grateful for chocolate cake (of course), his big boy bed, Halloween & Christmas, dinner, and crayons. 

At first I was trying to get Elijah to say a little more thoughtful/meaningful things. But Adam encouraged me to let him keep going on with it because even though they are little things they are still things we should be grateful for. I mean, crayons and chocolate cake are important! 

We are all grateful for much more than that (I hope) and after having the lesson I realized how important it was to talk about gratitude more often so Elijah really learns to constantly have a grateful heart, not just the week of Thanksgiving but throughout the year. The first thought I had for teaching this to him was to do so by example. By being more open about my gratitude for the many blessings in my life, including all the little things like dinner & Halloween, I hope Elijah will then see that living a life full of gratitude leads to much greater happiness. 

[A lesson I still have to remind myself.] 

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving tomorrow! 

And I hope we can all remember to have a more grateful heart all year round.