Healthy Living for the Soul

Living with an Attitude of Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving! This holiday brings a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks. We know that thankfulness isn’t only for a holiday or a Hallmark card. Living each day with a sense of gratitude helps us to see and appreciate life.

Happy Thanksgiving! This holiday brings a time to gather with family and friends to give thanks. We know that thankfulness isn’t only for a holiday or a Hallmark card. Living each day with a sense of gratitude helps us to see and appreciate life. for all I am grateful. Writing appreciations can help us to grow in gratitude.

While having my morning coffee on the front porch swing, I enjoy writing down a gratitude list. Many days the first things on my list are the porch swing, the cup in my hand, my garden; a short repetitive list primes the pump, like the one behind my childhood home. After pouring a little water in the pump we lifted the handle up and down; soon a strong flow of water from deep in the well would begin to pour out. That’s what those first items are on my list. As my pen moves across the lines of the loose-leaf paper, my joy grows for all the people and things that flow from within me. Often there are new moments like the ones captured during a recent out-of-state visit with my daughter and grandchildren: my daughter sitting and chatting in person, her two-year-old calling out to me as she chased bubbles in the backyard, the seven-year-old running after yellow and golden leaves trying to catch the wonders of fall and later asking me for a song and story before bedtime. More moments included the youngest boy of five asking if he could hug me and then crawling into my lap to stay for a while, the oldest taller-than-me-now grandson standing next to me for a selfie, the nine-year-old boy playing games and hanging out just talking and standing with the oldest girl as we listened to the wind rustling in golden stalks of corn. Moments with six of my eight grandchildren; and In 2020, I gave away my lawn mower, determined to release the lawn and have mulched pathways and gardens that includes a labyrinth, created with my oldest granddaughter, Kaitlynn. The space has become a pollinator way station. Recently I had invasive trees removed from the area and a small mountain of recycled tree mulch left in my driveway. I am chipping away at the pile, one wheelbarrow at a time. Will I ever finish the project? Probably not, but the pathway task has become a gratitude journey, not a project to complete.

Let the worries and anxieties take a back seat in your thoughts. Remember the expression, “Put it on the back burner?” Concerns don’t go away, but they don’t always need our immediate attention; they can move to the back burner while we acknowledge our grateful heart.

What helps you focus on gratitude? Can you think of something to bring to your front burner of appreciation today? Enjoy a grateful heart for healthy living, for your soul.

Cheryl Floyd, Speaker/Storyteller and Heal your Life® Coach. Cheryl Floyd is a graduate of East Tennessee State University’s Master Storytelling program. Her career includes over thirty years in education, publishing, life coaching, public speaking, and storytelling. www.cherylfloyd.com