“Give yourself a gift of five minutes of contemplation in awe of everything you see around you. Go outside and turn your attention to the many miracles around you. This five-minute- a-day-regimen of appreciation and gratitude will help you to focus your life in awe.” Wayne Dyer
The fall is a beautiful time of year to me, but can also be a trying one. The weather turning to cooler temperatures is not always appreciated by me. It signals to me that I will be indoors more, and due to mobility issues, I will be more limited in what I can do in my life without fear of falling. When I woke up last weekend to get ready for a busy weekend, and saw the freshly fallen snow outside, my perception was one of disappointment and gloom. My husband was in a vendor sale on Friday and Saturday and then we had a house full of people on Sunday for Thanksgiving dinner. I instantly started to fret over how much added work the snow added on to our plates to get things done that we wouldn’t have had to do in sunny milder weather. I was definitely down about how quickly the weather had changed.
I remembered something that I had to complete that I had started last thanksgiving. I love the fall and always host Thanksgiving dinner for our family and friends. Last year, I had made a hand print of everyone who had come over for dinner in paint on a piece of fabric that I had wanted to turn into a tablecloth. Seeing as the weather was rotten, I headed to my sewing room. For a day and a half, I worked to put it all together. I listened to music and planned and sewed. It was such a nice feeling to remember making all of the prints last year with people I loved. The cloth was finished before Thanksgiving a few days later.
We had a lovely evening and ate our meal atop of the hand prints from last year. We laughed and chatted and I didn’t think about the snow or the cold weather at all. I have a regular practice of writing what I am grateful for and I think I had let it slip a bit. I find it is so hard to be sad and down when you note all of the things in you life you have to be grateful for.
My list is usually full of big and small gratitudes such as my health and the sound of my wind chime on a windy day. The act of making the table cloth and bringing back positive memories of the year before, was all I needed to get out of my funk from the poor weather.
Something I find helpful to change my mood is to have a book where I list items and events that I am grateful for. Maybe start one today so that the next time something gets you down, you can pull it out and remind yourself of all of the things that you have in your life that lift you up.
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