thankful Thursdays

Thankful Thursdays Guest Post: Finding the Joy (Losing the Judgement)

It’s that time for Thankful Thursday again! Are you excited? Because I’m excited! I connected with Rox Nicholl through the wonderful world of blogging and I think she’s just a lovely soul. I really enjoyed this post, especially the connection she draws between more joy and less judgment. This post reminded me that being thankful for one small thing can be powerful in itself. What one small thing are you thankful for today?

It was going to be brilliant. Brilliant, I tell you. Sparkly, witty, thought-provoking and funny, and all wrapped up with a glittery bow that would leave a smile on your face. Brilliant. And by “it”, I am referring to this particular guest post. I had been thinking about it for two weeks, without the opportunity to put a thought down (Little Person was on holiday, so there simply was no space to do anything except look after her and make sure the house didn’t explode). Thankfulness. Find the joy, lose the judgement. It was going to be brilliant.

And then I fell ill. My throat turned into some red, raw monster of slime. Food turned to glass as soon as I tried to swallow. For a week, it was all I could do to fetch Little Person from school and hide under a blanket on the sofa while I watched her play. Thankfulness? What thankfulness? Joy? What joy?

But here’s the thing. I have been learning about thankfulness – specifically how true thankfulness comes from a place of joy. And joy cannot occupy the same space as judgement. I hadn’t been aiming to find joy, I had been aiming to lose the judgement. Specifically, I’d been trying to learn to stop myself from saying all sorts of nasty things about the people driving the cars I share the roads with on a regular basis. So instead of “look at that idiot driving so dangerously”, I was trying “that driver seems to be in a rush. I hope that he isn’t late for his meeting.” After a little effort, I began to notice people that were driving well, and I noticed I was a more relaxed driver too.

So I decided on a wider application. Finding the joy in the every day. Daffodils bobbing on the wind. Little Person’s smile when I picked her up from school. The Dude taking care of the entire bedtime routine, even though he had been at work the whole day. A freezer full of food that could just be slapped in the oven at a moment’s notice (got to love fish fingers and chips). A friend who dropped by with a portion of (homemade!) soup to soothe my throat and then skedaddled off so I could rest. Maybe not a thousand things to be grateful for, but sometimes, real appreciation for two or three small things means so much more.

So even though I wasn’t overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness as the germs were doing battle for my body (status report: the body has fought back and is currently launching an offensive that should see us to victory), I was more thankful than I had ever had reason to think I would be. So often, when I am ill and I am laid low, guilt follows on the heels of pain. I haven’t done the laundry. I’m not cooking good enough food. I’m leaving The Dude to do all the work, and abandoning Little Person in front of the television. Bad mother. Bad wife. Bad person. (Am I the only one to do this to myself, as though it’s not enough to feel bad physically, I have to feel bad mentally too?) But not this time. This time, it was alright for me to not do these things. I could just rest and trust The Dude to take care of it. Not brilliant, but good enough.

It’s so easy to think of thankfulness as this big, bright gem of a thing, something grand to aspire to. It’s so easy to think that we have to be thankful for everything, and find big profound lessons to be grateful for within every life experience. But maybe gratitude is just an attitude that says, I’m going to notice the smallest tiniest thing that can give me joy, and be thankful for that.

Maybe it’s the joy that makes it brilliant, after all.

About the Author:

I blog about the lessons I find in the every day – being a wife to The Dude, mother to Little Person, a stranger in a strange land (I’m a South African living in North East England, which is the bit you never hear about), pretending to own a cat. When I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing, or doing crochet. Or avoiding the laundry pile. My current Secret Project is a novel that addresses the question of what happens when faith and fear collide. You can find me at www.roxnicholl.wordpress.com or follow me @roxnicholl (Twitter/Instagram)

Thankful Thursdays Guest Post: I Live Gratitude

A few weeks ago I wrote this post about practicing gratitude in the everyday rhythms of life. In that post I also mentioned that I’d like to do a Thankful Thursdays guest series and invited other bloggers who were interested in writing a guest post to contact me. I was blown away by the response.

Over the past few years I’ve become absolutely convinced that there is a direct relationship between gratitude and joy. Some of the most joyful people I know are not the ones who have the best things or who don’t experience hardships. They are simply people who remain grateful for the gifts in their lives instead of becoming bitter or cynical. 

More recently I have realized gratitude doesn’t always come naturally – it is something we have to practice. This can be difficult to do, especially when we don’t feel particularly thankful, but I am convinced it’s a spiritual discipline we are called to practice.

I asked writers to share their own thoughts and reflections on gratitude and the role that it plays in their lives.

Today we are kicking off the series with a post from Pradnya Vernekar. Pradnya is  a new friend I “met” when she took the challenge to participate in her own 52 Weeks of Adventure. I’ve enjoyed reading about her adventures and getting to know her over the internet. As you’ll see from this post, Pradnya oozes positivity. I always finish her posts with a smile on my face. I hope you enjoy this reflection on the many things we can be thankful for.

Header Image Credit: Symphony of Joy on Flickr Creative Commons

I Live Gratitude

Photo Credit: Sujoy Datta

Photo Credit: Sujoy Datta

Gratitude for me means learning to live as if everything in life is a miracle. Gratitude for me means being thankful for all the abundance in my life. Gratitude for me means being surrounded by positive people with pure hearts. Gratitude for me means all of this and much more!

I thank God that I am able to experience and see the breathtaking sunrise with my eyes, that I can hear the waves lashing out at each other and calming down as they approach the shore, that I can smell the corn being grilled on the barbeque, that my tongue salivates to have a bite of that corn, that my feet sink in the sand and I feel I am drowning as the waves disappear back into the sea, that I can fill my palms with water and throw it at my soulmate for fun, that my heart pounds with life when I see a flock of birds intersecting the sunrise and flying over the waters in a single line, that my brain has such vital power to process so many beautiful things at once and let me appreciate the goodness in the world. I am just thankful that my body and my mind are in harmony and let me create happiness from the smallest of things! Many of us take the innumerable functions our body and mind carry out for granted, losing out on the best of life’s moments. Be thankful that you have everything intact in your body and try to acknowledge its greatness!

I thank God that I have 24 hours in a day to follow my heart and do things I love the most. I thank him that on a Monday evening with rain pouring outside, I can sit in my balcony, sipping hot coffee and doing what I love the most – writing! I am grateful to God for blessing me with this unique prowess of writing, enabling me to touch the hearts of people through my expressions in my own small way. I thank God for the love and affection I receive from my readers which cannot be measured in dollars.

I thank God that I get my nutritious meals on time and my home is filled with love and laughter, that I have a terrific soulmate who respects me, that my parents raised me to be a humble human being, that my sister holds my family together, that my in-laws are angels, that I have true friends who genuinely care for me!

I thank God every morning for giving me another day to explore, to enjoy, to learn and breathe! When my hands make a ‘namastey’ with eyes closed in front of God, I do not seek anything from Him. I just THANK Him for the unlimited abundance he has blessed me with and still continues with his blessings!

I simply live gratitude!

Photo Credit: Prachi Chaudhari

Photo Credit: Prachi Chaudhari

About the Author: Pradnya is a dynamic HR, an avid reader, an amateur poet and a natural writer. She is an ardent believer in God and tries to dig up happiness even in the darkest of mines. Join her as she takes you on a joyride called ‘life’ at Wanderings of my Mind and 52 Weeks of Adventure.

Thankful Thursdays: Speaking Blessings

I wake in the early morning light, eyes gummy with sleep, warm in the bed I share with the person I love most in this world.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who gave the heart understanding to distinguish between day and night.

I curl my toes against the cold tiles of the bathroom floor, huddled under the warm spray of the shower head as the room fills with steam. I lather sweet-smelling soaps and shampoos into my elbows and scalp and between my fingers until ever bit of this body is saturated and clean.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, Master of the Universe, who has sanctified us with your commandments and commanded us about the washing of hands.

I cup my hands around a steaming mug of coffee, bringing my nose as close as I can to the liquid, breathing in its spicy warmth and comfort.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings about all things.

I stand for too long in front of my closet, sighing over too-tight pants and a skirt that makes me look fat, trying to choose the perfect outfit from a closet that holds more than I need.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this moment.

I walk to work through crisp, cool air, the first day the sun has broken through after many dreary ones. Walking up the hill to my school, the sun and the exertion of my body warm me enough to throw off my coat and let my arms embrace those bright, warm rays.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who makes the works of creation

I enter the quiet of my empty classroom and breathe deeply, thankful for the space, for the silence, for the emptiness.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings peace to the earth.

And when the quiet is shattered by my coworker and I feel irritation towards her and anxiety clawing their way to the front of my mind.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has created us all in your own image.

I stand, I speak, I teach, I listen, I laugh, I learn, I study, I work, I eat, I drink, I walk, I breathe, I praise.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who holds our lives in your hands. Every day your miracles are with us. Your wonders and favors never cease. Your compassions are never exhausted and your kindness never ends.

_________________________________________________

This post is the beginning of a series I’d like to do on practicing gratitude. I’ve come to realize that although gratitude isn’t always something that we naturally feel, it is something essential for us to practice. This won’t be a weekly post – it may be bi-weekly or more sporadic than that. I would actually love to have guest posts for this series if any of you are interested in writing a post about things you’re thankful for or what it looks like for you to practice gratitude in your life. You can contact me at lily.e.dunn at gmail.com if you are interested.