A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on gratitude, and the part I felt it played in Lyme disease. If you missed it, or to read it again you can go here I Really Hope Oprah Is Not Reading This But I\’d Be Grateful If She Were.
So it’s been a few weeks, and the post was a reminder to me to really concentrate on being grateful for things. Even when I’m not feeling well, or feel worn down from this disease I still focus on things to be thankful for.
Yesterday I was coming back from Albany and alone in the car, and thinking about some stuff that was on my mind, not bothering me, but just there. Kind of like those survey people at the mall. Just at the moment I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the thoughts I was letting out I caught a pink cloud in the sky. I did a quick check to make sure I wasn’t having a stroke or some other weird Lyme thing, and realized that there were indeed pink clouds reflecting a sunset I hadn’t noticed. I took some time to appreciate the beauty of the clouds and said out loud “there’s still so much beauty to see in the world”. At that point I had to get back to the fact I was going 70 mph down the highway and needed to keep an eye on the whole driving thing.
That’s one of many examples over the last few weeks since I wrote this post on gratitude. But the point that was most brought out from that post was the many examples of so many people on ways they found gratitude through the suffering of their illnesses. A long list of things people were thankful for suddenly appeared that I included in my post, and so many added more after it was published (read all the many comments).
So two weeks later I’m interested to see who else has been focusing on the things to be grateful for since the original post. Has anyone started a gratitude journal? Has anyone had any specific pink cloud type experiences that came about from being grateful? What new things have you found to be grateful for? I want to hear from you…your strength uplifts me as much as mine uplifts you (or at least as much as I try to uplift you). Please share with us the new things you’ve found to be grateful for.
I’ll start. I’m learned to be grateful journaling. I recently found a ton of journals and writing of things I have no memory of. Part of the Lyme memory loss (post coming on that topic). But reading back through some of the things of the last 5 years I don’t remember, it was reassuring to be able to read the things I’ve lost. I’m grateful for it also on a daily basis as it helps keep my thoughts organized. With Lyme it’s easy for everything to get all jumbled in our minds.
Okay, your turn.