Monday, July 18, 2011

G - R -A -T-I -T -U -D -E

"The secret to happiness is reflection and gratitude..."

When I had started off on a journey two years ago, I was excited, full of enthusiasm, full of life. A whole new world awaited me when I left my country for the first time. It was a whole new challenge, the time had come to take control of my own life... to become what I had always sought to be... and to break free and feel the pleasures in this world...

But not soon enough, life got back at me. I got sucked into the 'system' - the very 'system' that I was trying to break free from. Yes, I had achieved most of the short term goals I had set for myself, but there was (and still there is) something missing. Patience is one thing that I had always lacked in my life, but I am amazed at how patient I have been in the past few years. But with a lot of patience comes frustration, and frustration eventually leads to sadness. It is very easy for a person to give up, be disheartened and eventually compromise in life when things are not going the way they want them to. I want to avoid this... and I stumbled upon a site which I think would eventually help me with it.

365grateful began as a personal quest, but soon it has thousands of followers. Here is a video for what 365 grateful is all about:

365grateful.com from hailey bartholomew on Vimeo.

It is very easy to complain every time about whats wrong in your life. But why can't we take a moment and look at all the good things in our life? Even small things - Like having a healthy life, getting access to good education, food, having wonderful parents, etc. Thousands of people in this world do not have the little things that we generally take it for granted. My friend had been telling me about this for a long time. Finally, I think she was able to crack open my head and put those thoughts in my brain. And I am realizing that things could be much worse, and seeing things that I am really grateful for.

I really do want to do the 365 grateful project. Its not very difficult, you have to think about one thing that you are grateful for everyday for one year, and maybe write it down in a journal, make a blog, write it on post its, make a scrap-book, take pictures, etc. I haven't thought of my project yet. I was thinking of starting the project on my birthday, but I still haven't started it. Maybe, its time to stop procrastinating and start doing it.

Please visit the website: http://www.365grateful.com/