Gratitude

I got the following information off of a friend's blog (Thanks Brook!) and found it interesting:

Researchers studying those who kept gratitude journals concluded:

At the end of the 10 weeks, participants who’d kept a gratitude journal felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the future than participants in either of the other two conditions. To put it into numbers, according to the scale we used to calculate well-being, they were a full 25 percent happier than the other participants. Those in the gratitude condition reported fewer health complaints.

People who kept a gratitude journal reported feeling more joyful, enthusiastic, interested, attentive, energetic, excited, determined, and strong than those in the hassles condition. They also reported offering others more emotional support or help with a personal problem— supporting the notion that gratitude motivates people to do good. And this was not limited to what they said about themselves. We sent surveys to people who knew them well, and these significant others rated participants in the gratitude group as more helpful than those in the other groups.

Now let me make a confession. I am not a fan of journaling...I guess that goes along with my extreme dislike for scrapbooking. Every time I try to journal, despite all of my good intentions, it ends almost as quickly as it started. Yet I must admit that this gratitude thing has me intrigued...again. I think I'm going to try it on a regular basis and see how it goes. I'll start today here just to get my juices flowing:

I am thankful for:
1. The sound of my boys having fun together.
2. Deep friendships
3. Our curriculum which took my reluctant reader and made him love it.
4. 18 years of knowing Larry and 13 years married to him this summer. He still makes my heart beat faster when I see him!
5. All of the people supporting us financially and through prayer. We truly love them all!
6. Sunshine
7. The fact that I enjoy doing laundry and dishes since the supply is endless.
8. Cheeze Its
9. Mail...it's the highlight of my day.
10. A book that is so good you could finish it in one sitting...if it wasn't for all of the laundry and dishes!

What are you thankful for?