Musings on a Small Life

Happy Christmas Eve to all! 2020 has been a challenging year for us in so many ways, but in spite of it all, I'm feeling blessed today:   I have a home of my own, and even though I loathe adjoining housing and where I live, and the unit needs so much cosmetic work (plus the roof, still waiting on that!), I  know I'm so fortunate to have it. The fridge, freezer and cupboards are filled with an abundance of food, both for myself and for Derry. We should be able to weather the impending province-wide lockdown (starting Boxing Day) without problem. I've been able to transition to working from home without impact to my salary and benefits. I HAVE a salary and benefits! That alone is tremendously lucky and something for which I'm grateful every day. I have terrific bosses and co-workers, and so that makes up for the mostly boring (to me) work. I've had more medical appointments this year than any other, most around a chronic issue that even with a complete change in diet ...

One of the inspirational articles I read recently suggested you could "retrain" your brain in part by keeping a gratitude journal and listing three original, non-repetitive things for which you're grateful, for three consecutive weeks. Now, a gratitude journal (my "happys," I used to call them) isn't anything new to me, and we all know the benefits of practicing gratitude. So I took up the challenge on November 24th and have been going it faithfully for nine days now. However, I'm finding it surprisingly difficult to come up with different things for which to be grateful on a daily basis. Sure, the regulars are easy: health, paycheque (and/or job, if you enjoy your work), food, clothing, shelter, loved ones (two and/or four-legged)...that's all the "normal" stuff that the majority of us in our country have, albeit to varying degrees. But in my day-to-day life...That's harder, because I can't repeat myself. I get to wri...