In Awe of Gratefulness

I've been reading Mike Robbin's blog lately. In today's post, he talks about being in awe of life and all it has to offer. About taking the time to see and appreciate all there is to be in awe of. To me, this ties in to the idea of being grateful.

I try to sit down at least once a week and make a list of all the things I am grateful for in that moment. I think of things that gave me pause, made me feel good or brought joy.

When I do this, an amazing thing happens. All the little bits of joy I felt throughout the week combine. I find myself in awe of a huge experience of joy that I would never have felt if I had let those moments of gratitude exist on their own. Brought together, they show me just how amazing life is.

I call it "active gratefulness"; actively combing your mind for the good. When you do this, it's like you've flipped a switch in your mind to the "joy" position. The switch tells your brain to start looking for things that made you happy, and to look at things in a new way to find happiness where you never thought it could be.

I'll give you an example. A man held a door for me the other day. I was far enough from the door that he could have easily let it drop and continued on his way, but he didn't. That evening, I wrote down the event as something I had been grateful for that day. As soon as I wrote it, my mind starting searching for more events where a stranger had been nice: let me go ahead in the grocery line when I only had two items; opened doors when I had a lot of bags; asked my opinion on a purchase (it feels good to be asked for your input!)...

Suddenly, I didn't have just one event. I had a whole picture of good people. It made me happy to live where I did. It made me want to be helpful and kind. It made me feel good when I stepped out of my house. All that from a stranger holding a door!

Active gratefulness doesn't just show you what you have to be grateful for. It can actually change your perspective on the world around you. And that is definitely something to be in awe of!

Life in the Zen Lane

Ah, the intro post... where I'm supposed to talk about what this blog is about, right? Here's the deal:

1. I come from a long line of anger management issues.
2. I dislike confrontation.
3. I think grudges are like shooting yourself in the foot and expecting the other guy to slow down.
4. My friends are my family.
5. My family... well, see #1.
6. I used to have a lot of regrets. Then I began to understand the value of "lesson learned".
7. I like to talk about myself.

That's pretty much the gist of it. Eventually, this will be my "About Me" text. Then you can all say you read it when.

Welcome!