Applying a Gratitude Attitude

Thursday, November 28, 2013


Thanksgiving is a holiday like Christmas in that it offers us very vivid and emotionally charged themes with which we can explore our own lives as well as the world at large.  In a time of challenge such as what I am facing now it is often a vital practice to regularly remind myself of what is working in my life and what I do have that I can be very grateful for.  You could call this the practice of applying a 'gratitude attitude' to your own life.

These are the aspects of my life I am grateful for this year:

• The opportunity I enjoyed to visit with my mother and my mother's family in Germany in May of this year.
• My health care providers.  I currently enjoy the assistance of a therapist, a primary care doctor, an acupuncturist, a chiropractor and the services of Pathways Health Crisis Resource Center here in Minneapolis.  The system I am able to collaborate with to take care of my own health is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of being able to use.
• My health insurance.  My insurance is making it possible for me to heal from PTSD in the face of a litany of challenges.  I am very grateful that Minnesota has such an excellent health care system.  I am also grateful for those people in this nation who actually believe that health care is a universal human right and are committed to working to move this country in the direction of a more just and humane system of healthcare.
• My health in general and my immune system in particular.  I am blessed to have a fairly healthy body and a good immune system.  Not everyone can say that.  There are many individuals who are immuno-compromised and must live with a heightened level of mindfulness on a daily basis to ensure their health is not put at undue risk.
• My friends.  You are far too numerous to count on my hands.  Your love and support are proving vital to me at a time like this.
• My family.  Despite the strained relations I have with certain members of my family I am nonetheless grateful for their past loyalty and generosity.
• My willingness and ability to work.  Many people throughout the world contend with disabilities on a daily basis that limit it not completely impair them from being able to do work that contributes to their communities.  I am fortunate to now be healthy enough to be able to work once again.
• Food.  I live in a country in which it is still relatively easy to find food that will nourish my body and mind.
• Safety.  I live in a nation that is not currently riven by such conflict that daily life would present itself with additional complications.  There are places in the world that are currently war zones or beset by such conflict that it is difficult not to live and develop a case of PTSD.

If you are suffering from feelings of confusion, anger, sadness and the like I encourage you to consider making a gratitude list today as a way of reframing your reality such that you can more effectively focus on the blessings you do have in your life.  Just doing this one activity this morning has significantly altered my own frame of mind; I am now looking forward to the day and the many people I will be blessed to spend time with today.  I can honestly say I no longer feel overwhelmed by everything I am coping with at the present time.  Somehow I will find my way through the thicket of challenges before me now.

Have a beautiful day!