What are you grateful for? 

Every day I make it a practice to write at least one thing I’m grateful for no matter what happens to me that day. Sometimes it’s just something simple, like my husband making coffee for me on dreary rainy morning. Sometimes it’s something deeper where someone has commented on how much I mean to them personally or professionally. Sometimes it’s just the way the light shines on the trees bathing them in golden sunshine. Sometimes it’s something funny or profound or something that evokes a memory of a wonderful afternoon long past.

Whatever I enter doesn’t matter as much as the daily discipline of the act itself. By committing the words to my journal, I become mindful of the moment at hand. There is so much more in this world than ourselves. So much to ponder, to celebrate, to be thankful for, to be grateful for. There is only one thing that is truly democratic no matter where we come from, no matter our social standing, economic background, education, physical ability, or caste. That thing we all have equally is time. We all have 24 hours in a day, 60 minutes in each hour, 60 seconds in each minute. While one can argue that we never know how long we have (and that’s true), we all have the same time while we are here. Being mindful of the moment, treasuring it and those that share it with us, changes one’s perspective on what is important in life.