Tag: gratitude journal

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The Grinch Ornament

I enjoy making Christmas ornaments to represent the years of my life. This year, I bought a Grinch ornament as a symbol of the last five years.

We had a pandemic to start this five year period  and ended it with the longest shutdown in US history. In my personal life, I commuted to and from work carrying a letter stating that I was an essential worker. I was never stopped. But, I sometimes imagined what it would be like to be stopped. I watched church services from home instead of going to church.

The second year (2021) started with the January 6th riot. I watched it on television just like many other Americans. My friend and I got Covid 19 in January. On November 21st, the Waukesha Christmas parade tragedy happened. I suspect that I will never know why I decided to stay home that day. I never skip the Christmas parade.

In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine and my employer closed our factory. While they gave me a generous severance package, it was still hard to be unemployed. Yet, I quickly found a new job.

In 2023, my cat died.

In 2024, my apartment had cockroaches. I moved to a new apartment in February of 2025.

When I reviewed my blog to create this list, I was surprised by how  much has happened in the past five years.I am proud that I survived all of this. I am also thankful for all of my family, friends and church for helping me through it all.

I don’t want to list them because I know that I will miss someone.

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Enjoy the small things

The highlight of this week is my Amarylis plant that is now blooming.

Amarylis blooming

I bought it at Walmart before Christmas. It looked like a bulb with a dead sprout that was hardly covered by dirt. I thought it was going to do nothing when I saw no change for weeks. Then a single reddish stem grew.

I watered it periodically. This month, I saw that it was getting ready to bloom. I began checking it everyday when Igot home from work.

While driving home from work today, I started wondering if today was going to be the day. It was! One of the flowers is now blooming while the other one on the opposite side of the stem is not open yet.

The day after I posted this, the second bloom opened up.

What was your day brightener today? Did your pet or a family member meet you at the door? Maybe your spouse cooked a delicious meal. If you seek, you just might find that enjoyable moment in your day.

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Ten days of Joy Challenge

A family member challenged me to post ten pictures on Facebook that give me joy. The challenge requests a picture a day. I posted that I’d only be sharing flower pictures because I couldn’t think of anything else. But, I did think of pictures to share.

On day one, I posted a picture of my Petunia growing in my window on a very cold day. The window was totally frosted up. I was thankful for the warmth of my tiny apartment.

On day two, I posted a picture of food. I had just had a colonoscopy and was allowed to eat regular meals again.

My cat was the picture that I posted to Facebook on day three. Some of my family members are doing the challenge too. Two of them shared cat pictures on their posts too.

Sunday was day four. I took a picture of my pastor giving a children’s sermon. While I know that church is boring for children, I think it helps them to see how much we care about worshipping God. I also enjoy watching children sing or play at church. I hope they can create plenty of happy memories.

My love of rock painting was posted for day five. I painted a collection of rocks and put them out before our Christmas parade. I was hoping that it would encourage some of the parade goers.

I had no idea what I was going to post for today. Then, I thought of something else that I enjoy. I enjoy collecting rocks and foreign coins.

For day seven, I posted a picture of my books. I love to read.

I shared my love of nature for day eight. I posted a flower picture on Facebook but this is a better picture.

Day nine was a picture of a warm and sunny February day. Wisconsin has had mild winters for the past few years.

My last post is a picture of two birthday cards and a valentine card.

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Two interesting articles

I found two interesting articles. The first one is a study about how much free time each day that a person has and how it impacts the person’s happy. The article ends with a list of pleasure producing activities such as gratitude.

The second article is a list of things to be thankful for. Some are simple like sunshine. So, I suspect you will find something in it to be thankful for.

Do you know of any interesting articles that you’d like share with me and my tiny handful of readers? Please share.

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Thanks for ?

Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. – Garrison Keillor

I can’t think of something to share for Thanksgiving Thursday. So, this quote fits today.

If you are keeping a gratitude journal but you can’t think of anything just skip that day. Forgive yourself and try again the next entry date.

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Thanks for heat

Happy belated Thanksgiving Thursday. I made two mistakes at work yesterday and was too tired mentally to write this post.

My cat sitting beside my radiator

This week, the temperatures in Wisconsin have been extremely cold. So, I found myself thinking about how nice it is to have heat in my apartment and car. As you can see, my cat is thankful for heat too.

I don’t ever want to be homeless, not have heat in my apartment or a broken heater in my car. A co-worker told me about her car that she calls a death trap that doesn’t have a working heater. So, she drives with her arm sticking out the window wiping the window since she can’t defrost her wind shield.

It is a good idea to keep a gratitude journal which is what I am using Thanksgiving Thursdays to do.

Do you write in a gratitude journal? How frequently? What are you thankful for?

“Gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” G.K. Chesterton