I do definitely buy into the concept of a gratitude diary
and the shift in your thinking produced by just trying to be mindful of the
things that make you happy and lift your day. One of my Christmas presents was in fact a real life Gratitude
Diary – who says stationery companies can’t spot and flog a trend? Before I paint myself into a ‘ Little
House on the North Shore’ vision of apple pie wholesomeness I should also point
out I was also given a journal to record ‘Lovers I had and liked’ and the
juxtaposition of the two (blank) books on my bedside table gives me great
pleasure.
However of course being me, the idea of noting things I am
grateful for in a daily log goes out the window, so my own particular version
of a gratitude diary would be more akin to the Gratitude Weekly – and in fact probably
more like the grandmother of all Australian magazines, The Australian Women’s
Weekly, that is published confusingly once a month. We do try over supper as a kick start conversation opener to
get everyone to talk about three gratitude things that happened to them during
the day – and I have to say it is a useful way of inducing everyone to talk
about their day, and I do buy into the notion that if you are consciously looking for things to feel happy about, then your brain does start trending towards the more cheerful, but once again am a bit nervous of us all sounding like the Waltons on a high. In a more realistic snapshot of life a la Ling, Drama Queens 2 and 3 and I were in fact all arguing in the car
this morning as to who could claim the sight
of a large fluffy dog hanging out of a car window as the driver barrelled down
the motorway slipway towards Sydney Harbour Bridge as one of their gratitude
things for the day - having endured three years of what seems like constant learner driver supervision I am actually just grateful to climb out of the car alive most days.
I looked out of the kitchen window last week to see a huge
sulphur crested cockatoo sitting on top of our small pot bound lemon tree,
wrenching off the lemons.
They are
such amazing looking birds that this was definitely a gratitude diary winner in
terms of colour and interest and “oh my goodness’ moments though in fact
cockatoos are such a nuisance and so destructive in terms of pulling things off
houses that rental leases in areas close to bushland will specify you must not
feed birds. This particular one flew
off with a lemon in its beak – and it was clear from the debris around the bush
that this wasn’t its first attempt at fruit snacking.
The sight of the citrus produce departing skywards was
enough to send Husband into a Nigella like marmalade making frenzy. Drama Queen 2 planted a grapefruit tree
years ago and it has never really done much until this year when it has gone
troppo and consequently the lawn has been taking direct hits from large and
very sour yellow grapefruits, and he gathered up all the sodden grapefruit and
the remaining unravaged lemons and boiled up an enormous batch of grapefruit
and lemon marmalade. The smell of
citrus and sugar on the boil definitely gets a gratitude mention – and as for
the fact that as the Drama Queens pointed out this morning, it still hasn’t set
– slightly alarmingly they were holding a couple of jars upside down when they
made this observation, well that’s just a minor hiccup – it’s the wholesome
thought that counts so perhaps my own personal Nigella better go in the Lovers diary as well.
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