Gratitude Diary

This week I'm thankful for:

- the cute lambs frollicking in the fields
- they are testament to the fact that spring is finally upon us!
- my clients who teach me so much
- my yoga teacher who is just the best
- "The Apprentice"and "Dirty, Sexy, Money" [a girl has to have some vices]

Gratitude Diary

'Tis the season to be jolly thanks to:

- the internet - taking the pain out of Christmas Shopping
- Gumtree and E-Bay who help my clients find me
- Healthypages which is a constant support of inspiration and advice
- discovering the best way to melt chocolate
- meeting up with good friends in London
- finding a pub in London where you can sit down and be heard - priceless!

Gratitude Diary

This week I'm thankful for:

- E-Bay - where I intend to shop for some unique Christmas presents
- Low cost calling numbers so I can stay in touch with my family in S.A
- Croatia beating England - at last England have got a major wake up call
- Organic farmers
- The yoga workshop I attended. Thank you Julie and Mr Iyengar.
- My regular clients

Gratitude Diary

This week I'm grateful for:

- Fairhills Fairtrade Organic Wine [South African]
- sunny autumn days
- watching Robert De Niro in Stardust- I love him even more!
- missing the baby bunny hopping over the road
- good health
- my regular clients

Gratitude Diary

I was rather remiss last week not to include a gratitude post but to be frank I wasn't feeling grateful for anything. I was having a bad week! Typically, this was counter-productive. As contemplating on "whats good" was the very thing I should have been doing.

Anyway........ I'm now grateful that I feel prompted to include one this week.

What's good at the moment:

- I've found a Bodypump class close by.

- I'm going to South Africa for 24 days in January - YAY!!!!

- A friend has offered to give me a Reiki treatment.

- Re-discovering a back massage technique that feels very good.

- Scraping ice off my windscreen in the morning ..... ok this is a lie :-)

Gratitude Diary

This week I'm grateful for:

- Will and Grace Series 5 boxset
- my former Sports Massage tutor for giving me fantastic advice
- realising that mistakes are opportunities to learn
- living in a privileged and safe country
- having the freedom to make choices

Gratitude Diary

This week I'm thankful for:

- my car
- hair dye
- that my nephew is on the mend
- booking a No Hands Massage for Saturday - I CAN'T WAIT!
- meeting new clients
- my excellent yoga teacher
- the new series of Ugly Betty starts this Friday - YAY!
- cocktails at "Lab" in Soho
- re-discovering I quite like London
- a colleague sticking chips up her nose - made me howl

Gratitude Diary

Please read the post below before this one - otherwise it won't make sense. (I didn't realise the importance of posting in order).

This week I'm grateful for:

- Living close to nature - where I can feed the cows six feet from my back door
- Having the health and energy to go for a run along the canal and see the swans
- Massaging my clients who are, without exception, lovely people
- Autumn arriving [said through gritted teeth] - the leaves are pretty
- Learning new things from my clients on a daily basis
- Answering 8 questions correctly on University Challenge
- Making Chicken Cacciatore for the first time - Nigella you rock!
- The internet
- Having a partner who makes me feel special and helps me in so many ways

Wow .... I could go on and on - how good is that..... except I have to cook dinner now - for which I am grateful of course ;-)

Did you say thank you?

How many times did you complain about something today? How many times did you say "thank you"? I don't necessarily mean to people but to the universe.

Reading a post on The 10 Blog entitled "Positive Interventions - Gratitude" inspired me to find out more about a "movement" which extols the benefits of counting your blessings by regularly writing a Gratitude Diary.

I watched a short video on the blog post, which took me to a site called gratefulness.org, which in turn led me to an article in The Guardian entitled "The Hedonic Treadmill". This article says research has shown that “people who keep regular "gratitude journals" report fewer physical symptoms, more alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy, more sleep, more exercise and more progress towards personal goals”

I seem to be intuitively finding my way to information which says: take notice of the small things, be grateful for the small things, take pleasure in the small things and most of all be grateful for the intangibles.

I’ve been inspired to make my “Gratitude Diary” part of my weekly blog posts and invite readers to leave comments on what they are grateful for. It could be one thing, 10 things or 100 things. I’m interested to see what the outcome will be.

Go on ....... Give it a go!