This has been quite a week, hasn’t it? Though my own personal corner of the world is fine at the moment, it sure does seem as though the news has been exceptionally full of sadness and strife over the past little while. Perhaps that’s all the more reason to take a few minutes to stop and focus on gratitude… even, in some cases, for the blessings that come in spite of the bad.
Hope you’ll join me in this week’s Gratitude Linkup!
(If you’d like a bit of background on why I started the Gratitude Linkup, check out this post.)
How to get involved in the Gratitude Linkup
- Write and post an entry in your own blog containing your gratitude list for a moment in time.
- Share the URL to your gratitude blog post by clicking the “add your link” button at the end of this post and filling out the information.
- Share the Gratitude Linkup with your blog readers by clicking the “get the InLinkz code” link at the end of this post and copy/pasting the appropriate code into your gratitude blog post.
- Visit some of the blogs listed in the Gratitude Linkup and comment on their posts.
My Gratitude List
In no particular order, here is my own gratitude list for this moment in time. I hope that after reading it you’ll go on to write and share your own!
- The incredible talent Robin Williams shared with the world, and the legacy he left behind. While it’s difficult to think of gratitude connected with the tragedy of a person taking their own life, in this case I’m grateful for the dialogue this has opened up about depression and mental illness. May those discussions continue, may the stigma be removed, and may suffering people be helped and saved.
- That I was able, many years ago, to find a treatment that works to keep my own depression in check. That our company’s benefit plan covers prescription drugs 100% so that I don’t have to make the choice between groceries and mental health. That through my experience with this disease I’ve gained a kernel of understanding as to what others go through.
- The reward of losing 3.5 lbs after a good, on-track week.
- Another successful week of healthy eating, drinking enough water, and fitting in some exercise every day.
- My sense of hearing, and the ability to enjoy all the natural sounds outside my window: crickets, cicadas, birds, squirrels, water, wind, rain, thunder.
- Reminders of my privilege.
- Good things in my friends’ lives that bring them happiness.
- Good, practical things that come into my own life because of blogging and my commitment to it – for example, our new ActiFry. We’ve enjoyed some amazing meals over the past couple of weeks – plus, I never would have imagined being able to make a snack of French fries at home at 10:30 p.m. (let alone being able to fit them into a healthy eating plan), but we did it!
- Time to make art.
