| Some people make New Year's resolutions. I | | | | everybody's plate. It has gotten so bad that |
| make Thanksgiving resolutions. Every year, I | | | | some people's idea of a really great time is a |
| resolve to resume my practice of keeping a | | | | good night's sleep. |
| gratitude journal. | | | | I dare you to try an experiment. On a day when |
| And every year, about three weeks later, I lose | | | | you've gotten up on the wrong side of your bed, |
| the journal. Not that this stops me. I just write | | | | and things have gone from bad to worse, take a |
| my entries in some other journal, or a notebook. | | | | few minutes to reflect. What is there in your life, |
| You may consider this weird, but for me, the act | | | | right now, for which you are grateful - or could |
| of writing things down seems to be the important | | | | be, if you made an effort, a really hard effort if |
| part. It's almost as if the writing action alone does | | | | necessary? |
| something to the synapses in my brain that helps | | | | Yes, it's hard to find things to be grateful for |
| me process and store the information. | | | | when things are scary and not going well. But the |
| Like everybody else, though, I get those warm | | | | happier you can make yourself feel, outward |
| fuzzies more at the end of November than at | | | | circumstances notwithstanding, the more likely |
| any other time of the year. As it turns out, I'm | | | | you will be to get a new job, especially a new job |
| hardly alone with my seasonal preoccupation with | | | | is one that will work well for you. |
| gratitude. | | | | Sometimes I think of it as some kind of grateful |
| At Thanksgiving, people all over the country sit | | | | pill that makes everything better. Of course, that's |
| around tables filled with turkey, brussels sprouts, | | | | when I remember to take it. Here's where the |
| candied yams with marshmallow topping, | | | | challenge comes in, though: how to make sure I |
| cranberries, and pumpkin pie, and take turns | | | | remember? |
| sharing with their loved ones the things they feel | | | | We don't seem to have too much trouble with |
| grateful for. A wonderful tradition indeed - but | | | | taking prescription drugs or other kinds of |
| what about the rest of the year? | | | | medication every day. How do we manage to |
| Lately, with our growing understanding of the Law | | | | remember that? Before I started taking the pill |
| of Attraction and especially The Secret, we've | | | | for the first time, I was very worried that I'd |
| become so much more aware of the importance | | | | forget. And you know what? Over those 10 |
| of gratitude and appreciation, not just on | | | | years I took it, I forgot it maybe twice. |
| Thanksgiving, but every day. | | | | What helped me then was the same thing that |
| We know that expressing appreciation lifts our | | | | will work here as well: creating a routine. Probably |
| spirits and raises our vibrations. And with that, it | | | | the easiest way to do that is by keeping a daily |
| seems to change everything around us - we start | | | | gratitude journal, with emphasis on daily. Just keep |
| to draw to us things that we want, people that | | | | it on your bedside table and write into it every |
| are friendlier, meetings and plans that go more | | | | night. That's how I remembered the pill. That, and |
| smoothly. In short, things work. | | | | a little flower sticker on my bathroom mirror. |
| Still, sometimes it can be quite a challenge to feel | | | | The important part is this: every time you see it |
| grateful. Deadlines have a way of getting in the | | | | and write in it, it will realign your thinking. And once |
| way as does frustration with red tape. Annoying | | | | you do that, your vibes improve, and the Law of |
| colleagues and bosses do too, as do incompetent | | | | Attraction will, once again, begin to attract the |
| or aggressive drivers, infused with road rage. | | | | things that are in line with what you really want. |
| Ultimately, there are simply too many things on | | | | |