Being Thankful - Mindful Awareness - Gratitude

  
When you hear yourself saying "I have to...", 

change your attitude and say "I get to...".
~Kim Franklin-Magana

There are so many things we take for granted these days that we sometimes forget how fortunate we are to have the opportunity to do what we now perceive as work.  

A job is most commonly thought of as work, of course, but what does that job then allow us to do, buy, experience, or improve?  When someone first lands a job, they are so happy because they see it as a way to benefit and improve the quality of their life.  Then something happens...they become accustomed to their new way of living and forget the life they once had before the job was in their life that improved it in the first place.

That is why mindfulness is so important to your everyday happiness.  Gratitude, for the common experiences in your life, is an important factor to your overall happiness in general.

When was the last time you thought, I get to cook dinner, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and clean my house?  

Without a washer and dryer you might have to go to a laundry mat and spend hours of the day, not to mention the money, doing your laundry on an ongoing basis in order to have clean clothes.  You would also not have the luxury of your laundry in process while you are somewhere else in the house, cooking dinner, spending time with family, enjoying quiet restful time, or working on various other projects around the home.

Without a dishwasher, you would have to wash each item by hand and be stuck in the kitchen long after the meal was over cleaning and scrubbing, only to have to repeat this task, day in and day out.

Without a house...well you get the picture.  

Mindful awareness is the key to everyday happiness in your life.  Change the settings in your brain, the way you so easily change the settings on your computer or T.V. remote to, 
"I feel fortunate and grateful for the blessings and opportunities that my life has given me."  

Then, the only thing left to do is ENJOY THE FRUITS (or in this case, dessert's) of your labor!

Childhood...

“Childhood 

is the most beautiful

of all life's seasons.”

― Anonymous

 

A walk in my garden...

If I had a flower

for every time I thought of you, 

I could walk in my garden

forever." 

~Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, FRS (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom during much ofQueen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language.  TO READ MORE, PLEASE VISIT:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson

Blossom YOUR Soul!

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;

they are the charming gardeners 

 who make our souls blossom.” 

~Marcel Proust

Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (French pronunciation: [maʁsɛl pʁust]; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier translated asRemembrance of Things Past). It was published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Proust

NOSTALGIA!

It becomes increasingly easy,
as you get older,
to drown in nostalgia. 
~Ted Koppel

Memory...

Memory is a complicated thing,

a relative of truth,

but not it's twin.

~Barbara Kingsolver

Being Happy in the Present Moment!

Try to be happy in this present moment, 
and put not off being so to a time to come, 
as though that time should be of another make from this which has already come and is ours.
~Thomas Fuller

Writing...

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.
~Anais Nin



Reflection

We need time to dream,                   

time to remember,

and time to reach the infinite. 

Time to be.

                               ~Gladys Taber