Tag: thankfulness

Being Grateful for the Small & Big Things In Life

It is that time of year of Thanksgiving (just happened last week) and Christmas. Usually for me and everyone else around the world it is a time to reflect on this past year and showing our gratitude. I do not want to make this sound like a repeat from the previous years, but we should be thankful and grateful for the small things in life. There is usually someone who makes us appreciate the small things in life. Whether it is being grateful for the breaths you take or the sunrises you get to appreciate and admire, it does not matter. There is someone in your life who makes everything simply better and makes you happy. It could be a significant other or a family member or friend. This quote about sums it up just right. Marcel Proust says, “Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” I love how that quote compares people who care to make us happy to gardeners. There is such beauty in that one quote!!

There is someone, whether it is yourself or someone important in your life that you are grateful for too. There is this quote that sums it up just about perfectly from Mandy Hale, one of my personal heroes about being grateful for everything life has to offer. She says, “Be grateful for small things, big things, and everything in between. Count your blessings, not your problems.” In other words be thankful for everything life has to offer because they are blessings in disguise and NEVER worry about your problems. I am going to conclude this post right here. I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving and hope that everyone will have a good Christmas next month! Here is a poem as reminder to be grateful for every single moment, big and small. We should all be filled with thankfulness like this poem suggests.

Filled with Thankfulness

Every sunrise on the horizon reminds me
That there is always another day ahead.
Every breath that fills my lungs with air

Minute by minute is a reminder that I am
Alive. A calmness within waves of the sea
After seeing chaos everywhere else fed

The soul that needed water. As my hair
And tears were lost in the wind, the clam
Was opening right before my eyes. So I

Thank you for teaching me to stop and
Admire the sunrise. Thank you for being
My breath when I needed it the most.

Thank you being the calmness in the eye
Of the storm and for giving me a hand
To hold as I lacked strength. I was seeing

The world through new eyes. West coast
Vibes always held me together and you had
Me standing. Nothing could make me sad.

Appreciation For All We Do Have

I have not posted for a while, cannot believe it has been about a month since the last time I posted. Things have been that busy I guess. I wanted to post something about Thanksgiving and I know I am about a week late, but I guess it is better to be late than never. We have a tendency to complain about all the things we do not have instead of all the things we do have. It is just a part of our human nature to worry more about the things we do not have and we forget to appreciate the good things in life.

There are several good quotes about appreciation, thankfulness and gratefulness, but this is one of the best ones I could find by Wale Ayeni who says, “Be thankful for what you have. Your life, no matter how bad you think it is, is someone else’s fairytale.” So in other words, even when your life is bad someone else’s life could be worse or better. I know things have not been going well for some people, but there is so much to be thankful for. I could give a list of what and who I am thankful for. Maybe this list would inspire others to do the same. In fact people should write at least 5 things they are grateful/thankful for. I will start (and it really has not changed much over the years although I keep adding to it). Here it is and I wrote two poems about what I am thankful/grateful for.My list is as follows and might be long so bear with me (and it is not in any particular order:

  1. My parents
  2. My friends – including my two BFFs
  3. My second family on the West and East Coast
  4. Poetry
  5. Music
  6. My sister
  7. My brother
  8. Family friends
  9. Family
  10. Sunrises
  11. Sunsets
  12. Laughter
  13. Love
  14. Heartbreak
  15. Being broke
  16. Failures
  17. Happiness
  18. Roses (and other flowers)
  19. Rain
  20. Sunshine
  21. Chocolate
  22. Food
  23. Shelter
  24. Therapy (favorite store)
  25. My therapist
  26. Clothes
  27. Baking
  28. Exes
  29. Color
  30. And many more things

Here are my two poems I wrote. I forgot to mention this before and I know I need to do more of this, but I hope you show your appreciation to those who have been there for you because there might be a day when they will not be here. Enjoy and be thankful for what you have every single day. You will not regret it one bit.

Thankful For…

The muse that makes every morning more bearable.
All the hugs and kisses that are keeping me stable.
The whispers behind my back that are making me
Grateful for every kind word. When someone sees
Me for the mess that I am, but is continuing to love
Me anyways. To know that the bright world is full of
Harshness and darkness, but there is knowledge that
There is a smile behind the clouds. The quiet and flat
Laughter turning into sunny merriment coming down
The long hallways. When it felt like you could drown
In sorrow and sadness, but the smell of roses turns
That frown into bright eyes. All the scars and burns
Beginning to repair or heal themselves. The tears
That are drying all on their own and all of the fears
That make me strong. The women who came before
And paved the path for me to follow. Hearing my roar.
Being Thankful For Everything
Life has me thankful for it all…
The easy ups and sharp downs.
The pain and every single tear.
My solid and protective wall.
Smiles emerging from frowns.
The hope blooming after fear
Dies away. The times I laughed.
The mistakes I have made. The
People who are there for me.
Moments not photographed.
My safe place. When there is a
Feeling of peace. The rough sea
That becomes calm. The stars
That are still shining. My heart.
Every day that I am still alive
And breathing. Words that are
Mine. Chance for a new start
And the ability to deep dive.