thirty days with a grateful heart - day seven

day seven - just happy to be here

Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up and the first thing that goes through your mind, before the running tally of what has to be accomplished, before the mad dash to switch on the coffee maker, before any of that, is - wow, I am just glad to be alive today?

Honestly, I haven't recently.  Not that I am not grateful, to be alive that is, because I am.  Very much so.  I am extremely grateful to be well and healthy and that my family is well and healthy and that my friends are well and healthy.  You get the picture.

No, I guess what I am saying is that although I have been grateful, I really haven't spent much time thinking about being grateful.  And with the exception of this last seven days, I haven't spent that much time expressing being grateful either.  I get so caught up in getting accomplished what needs to be accomplished each day that sometimes, it seems like I forget the little things.  And oftentimes, the big things too.  Like saying thank you.  Like saying I am grateful.

I was thinking that maybe that's just what this gratitude project is all about.  Taking the time to stop and smell the roses, if you will.  Taking a minute or two or twenty each day, to just be grateful and to express that gratitude aloud, in words, and not just in thought - for the big, and the small, the important and the seemingly not so important.

What a difference it has made in my life already, I'm here to tell you.  I feel more, aware of what is going on around me, if that makes any sense at all.  And, honestly, not only has it made a difference in my life, but it kind of seems to be rubbing off on my family and to some extent, on my friends, as well. 

Which in and of itself is kind of cool, don't you think?  Kind of like a pay it forward kind of thing? 

Ya, exactly like that. 

Today?  Easy peasy.  Today, I am just totally glad to be alive.