Gratitude: Focus on the Positive

I had my second therapy appointment today. My therapist suggested that I shift my focus to the positive and good things when I'm feeling down. Sounds like a no-brainer suggestion but I definitely needed the reminder.

So, here's a list of positive things that I'm grateful for.

• My husband.  He is kind and gentle and sarcastic and hard-working.  He loves to serve and help out people in need.  He gives awesome massages.  He's always on my team and I love working on projects with him.  He listens and communicates pretty well and humbly accepts constructive criticism if I give it.  He loves musicals and going to the theater and traveling.  I love to spend time with him.
• My daughter.  She is a delight, from the top of her golden halo of curls to the bottom of her grubby little feet that sometimes kick us in our sleep.  She is sensitive, charming, imaginative, funny, determined, energetic, and bright.  She's friendly and says hi to everyone.  She catches on quickly and loves to be helpful.  We have fun together and it's a joy to be her mama.
• My husband's fabulous family. They are warm and loving and kind and have embraced me fully as one of their own.  I treasure the close relationships I'm developing with my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law and aunts-in-law. I'm blessed to live so close to them and see them all the time.
• A place to live and food on the table.  God has richly provided for all our needs since my husband lost his job last year.
• My new life in the country. I look out my window and see bunnies or birds in our field.  I have the opportunity to raise chickens and just started getting my first eggs in the past week!  I had my first vegetable garden and enjoyed squash and lettuce and tomatoes and onions and corn and strawberries I grew myself.  My neighbors have horses and goats and cows that I can enjoy visiting and not have to take care of!
• New friends.  I've been welcomed into this new community and have met some really wonderful people that I like and like me back, and I meet more all the time.  Connecting to women through online communities is a different but also valuable part of my social life.
• Old Friends.  Social networking has helped me keep in touch with and build even deeper relationships with dear women I knew in college as we share the ups and downs of marriage and joys and trials of motherhood.
• Breastfeeding. My body's ability to feed and grow a beautiful baby into a toddler was empowering and healed some body image issues for me and increased my confidence as a mother.  It has been a source of connection to other women as well and may be a source of a new purpose for advocacy and involvement in this season of my life.
• Creativity.  Whether it's making up a song to help with parenting or telling C silly stories or improvising a meal from ingredients I have on hand or writing this blog or drawing or painting or crafting or knitting or crocheting or sewing or playing the piano or putting together a fun outfit, my creativity is part of who God made me to be, and to paraphrase Eric Liddell, when I'm creative, I feel his pleasure.