The Meaning of Grateful

“Let’s focus on what you’re grateful for. Everyday.” – my therapist suggested as I nervously sat across from her, thinking to myself “what? How? Am I really grateful for something or someone every single day?” So being obedient and trusting her fully, especially when it felt like I wasn’t going anywhere on my own, I went with her plan. Truth be told, and to answer my own question, gratefulness changes a lot of ways we look at life. Fast forward, especially as Thanksgiving rolls around, I look at some of the things I’m grateful for (in a nutshell):

Grateful for my dreams: One of my favorite quotes is by Eleanor Roosevelt – “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Life without a dream is like a journey without a destination. For some it’s clearer than others, and some takes longer to realize what it is- but it’s always great to have dreams to focus on.

Grateful for self love: If you don’t learn to love yourself, forgive yourself, and even teach yourself – the world has nothing to learn from you. This had a long time coming for me, and something I learn everyday.

Grateful for new relationships: Look around. There’s so much to learn from people we meet everyday. Relationships can come in different forms, it’s important to embrace them and have an open mind.

Grateful for failed relationships: Failure is not the end of the world. If we learn to shift our focus from “that’s horrible it didn’t work out” to “hey I gave my 100% but some things I cannot control,” it changes everything. And gratefulness stems from the idea that failed relationships portrays the extent of my potential and dedication.

Grateful for knowledge and experience: It’s true when they say “knowledge is power.” Every new knowledge we take in expands out perspective just a little bit more. And that’s a wonderful thing. The knowledge acquired from experience things is far more valuable than anything else. So yes, I’ve learned the importance of being flexible and experience situations at the moment and as they come.

Grateful for the best supporters and harshest critics: You need them both. When you fall down, you look up to see all the cheerleaders that make getting back up so much easier. But then when you’re up, you need those who are willing to critique where you might need improvement. Because, let’s be honest, none of us are perfect!

And of course..Grateful for coffee! Coffee is the ‘latte’ to my style’. Might I add more?

Hope you enjoyed reading this! Don’t forget to ask yourself- what are the key things you are grateful for?