It's a Beautiful Day

 I was starting this blog post yesterday, after thinking about how gratefulness seems to go out of the window right after Thanksgiving.   Its crazy to me.  We end up being back to where we were, focused on all the stresses and disappointments as we work hard to buy all these gifts for people.  Its bewildering how negative people can get.  Of course, for some people, being negative is more of a way of life, not really unique to the holidays.  Real life is full of good and bad stuff, but the thing is, if you're only focused on the negative aspects of things, it ends up becoming all you see.  Isn't it draining to be focused exclusively on the negative aspects of things all the time?  Well, I think so.
A lot of what I do at work involves cognitive re-framing; helping people to see and think of things from a different perspective.  The way we assess or think about things can be really detrimental, or really good, and so there's a whole type of therapy dedicated to teaching people this.
So that's where gratitude comes in; being able to look at things from a perspective of gratitude.  For example, rather than thinking "My job really sucks (which, lets face it, we all have at one point), you could instead see it as "I'm thankful to have a job, to be able to pay my bills, and have health insurance".   It may sound corny, I know, but it can really  change your attitude and energy towards others.   I've definitely learned this from personal experience, and I can say that life feels a lot easier when you're not looking at the downside of things.
The way in which I usually have clients develop this type of thinking is to ask them to write or at least think of a gratitude list every day.   There's almost always some resistance to doing it, but people usually see the value of it after a while.  Sometimes it's as simple as being grateful for the ability to see, or walk.  (Admittedly, it wasn't until I worked in some group homes that I realized that such things really shouldn't be taken for granted).
I remember when I was in college, (taking a gym class of all things), the professor would always say "It's a great day to be alive, gang!" and, at the time, i thought it was really cheesy.  But, I don't know, maybe that's a better way to look at life, maybe it's a way to appreciate the time we have.
  So, now that Thanksgiving's over, and you might be finding yourself swept up in the Christmas shopping insanity, take a moment to think, (or to reply here!) what are you grateful for?

SO, in case you're wondering (and I know you are), the title of this blog post comes from Queen's last album, Made in Heaven, which was released in 1995, and features Freddie Mercury's last recordings.