Happy Thoughts

When I was in high school, I had a friend who always seemed to be a little too happy. She never stopped smiling. Even when it seemed the world around her was falling apart (which it frequently does when you are in high school) she always had something positive to say. She was so enjoyable to be around, and drew people to her with her sweetness. I asked her one day why nothing depressed her. She showed me a worn-out notebook. A Happy Thoughts Book, she called it. It listed everything in the entire world that she was grateful for. At age 16, she had over 735 Happy Thoughts. She added more every night before she fell asleep. She said to me, "When you are grateful for the things you have, you don't really have time to be sad about the things you don't have." I remember being in awe. I had no inner surge of, "Wow! She's right!" But, being a teen, I wanted to be just like her. So I went home and started my own Happy Thoughts Book.

I chuckle to myself now about the things I wrote back then. I think I was grasping at straws. It was a good place to start. I needed a little jump start. I needed to remember that there is A Reason for everything. That there was Someone to be grateful to...even if it was gratitude for red popsicles and fresh-cut grass (Numbers 2 and 6 on my list, respectively). Fast forward 12 years.

The "winter blah" has hit home. I believe, where we live, it is called Seasonal Depression...a real diagnosis. Without realizing, I let myself fall pretty far. So... I talked to a priest. Talked to my husband. Talked to my mother. Talked to a friend. The message was the same: Remember to be grateful.

 Monday morning is the best day to start with an attitude of gratitude. No particular order...just trying to get started.

#1. This man, showing God's love to me here on earth.
 (Grilling in freezing temperatures because his gestating wife had a craving.) 



#2. This relationship

#3. These Babies



#4. This relationship


#5. The 32 single socks in my laundry room that I just cannot manage to find pairs for...because the children helped me sort the socks
#6. A warm house on a snowy day
#7. Faith
#8.Family
#9.Friends
#10. The kids wanting to help me with the chores