One Little Thing You Can Do That Will Change Your Life - This Will Amaze You

 

Okay, I admit it, I'm parodying the kind of headlines we see now on the internet.  Except this is true - practicing gratitude, like meditating, even once has proven results.  I mean proven by science, for you scientific materialists out there.  You could look it up.  It trains your brain to look from a different angle, not thinking about what you want (and don't have), but about what you have, and may very well not deserve, but that's beside the point.

So today in Kroger's I thought I would start a gratitude journal here.  Maybe I'll just add to this post of an evening, putting the latest thing on the top, the way Facebook does.  Or if I have taken a nice picture, do a new post.  I do have days when all I'm thankful for is that I didn't bite or kick anyone, or that this day is over, or that I have an iPad (my daughter gave it to me for Christmas a year ago).  But today I'm feeling  grateful for several reasons:

~ the loose front filling could be repaired, and I don't have to get a cap.  (I have a dentist who is not in it to make a fortune by implants and such.)
~ I could go to Kroger's and pick up groceries without keeping a running total in my head or worrying about the cost.  I'm still frugal, but it's nice to to have options.
~ Our water is finally back, after 11 days of coping.  I managed to get a load of laundry done, including my nice new very warm bathrobe; it's below zero here, so I'm grateful for the very warm bathrobe.
~ What looked like the start of a head cold yesterday did not materialize.  For that I am really really grateful.  I hate having a cold.
~ Most of all, I got into a good mood.  Not always so.  Not under my control.

So it goes.

One grateful cat

Sometimes you get the bear.
Sometimes the bear gets you.

To the right, one of the neighbor's two black cats we called "The Mu's" (a Zen joke) flew up our magnolia tree, being hotly pursued by two large, vigorous dogs.  The dogs were soon called home, but the Mu stayed up there for several hours, catching his breath.  That's life in the animal realm.