What is an Attitude of Gratitude and What Makes me Grateful

What an attitude of gratitude is, is having an attitude of gratefulness for all of what you have and are.

If you have a roof over your head rather than having to live on the street, you should have an attitude of gratitude. If you have clothing to keep you warm in winters, you should have an attitude of gratitude. If you are relatively healthy, you should have an attitude of gratitude, as many others are not so fortunate with their healthy.

You do NOT have to have the best place in your city to live in, or the most fashionable clothing to keep you warm in winters in order to have an attitude of gratitude. And, it is true that the more you are grateful for, the more things you will have to be grateful for.

At the time of writing this it is just after Thanksgiving 2019 in Canada and just before Thanksgiving in the United States. I find myself FINALLY committing to digital paper, all of the things (as many as I can remember) that I am grateful for, past and present.

A list of things that I am grateful for… my attitude of gratitude, is as follows.

I am Thankful for:

1. my life-long good health.
2. the companionship of two, awesome fur-babies, Simona and Chloe.
3. being able to maintain my standard of living after being removed from my j-o-b in 2009.
4. family… siblings, parents, and most specially my cousins. Have now gained new respect for my siblings given a recent challenge the “baby” of our family is facing. For the first time in my sibling’s history, all siblings are supportive of one other… yeaaaah!
5. my dearest friend who encouraged me to go with him to New York City years ago now, where I got to stand at the base of the twin towers (World Trade Center) and experience the positivity, those buildings each emitted. I will forever miss those landmarks.
6. all of my friends who have stuck by me even now, as I venture forward into the last chapter of my life.
7. my father’s encouragement to NEVER quit school. He truly taught me to love learning.
8. my love of learning and the ability to help others with what I’ve learned.
9. for having just the right people (dependable, reliable and honest!) around me at the right time, helping me with whatever need I have at the time.
10. having what I believed to be a strong spouse to lean on when losing my father to lung cancer.
11. having survived a major change in marital status a year after my father’s demise.
     
    I felt severely betrayed only to discover much later as to how lucky I was to have escaped that nightmare. Never knew what a sociopath was before, but I do now.
12. having a childhood friend who became a police officer and once I sought him out, he was very helpful to me through my nightmare, protecting me from being continually stalked by that mad man.
13. my father’s having passed BEFORE my life-altering experience that would have torn my father’s heart to itty-bitty pieces. Dad was so hopeful that I had picked the “right one”.
14. my brother’s advice to “let it go” when I discovered that my x had cleaned out my deceased father’s bank account. Even the AutoWorkers Credit Union manager agreed that should NEVER have been able to have been done like it was… and, this manager assured me that my father’s bank total was substantial.
15. finally, being able to legally keep the one home that I had purchased years (prior to marriage) and renovated to live in.
16. surviving being pushed out of a job that I held in esteem for several years.
     
    Many of my colleagues who were made to feel like me (disposable)… as we were told that our services were no longer required (I was even threatened by a union rep to sign or else), committed suicide due to the poor treatment that we were all made to endured back in 2009.
17. for a God who forgave me not turning to him in my times of need throughout my adulthood, and who has since welcomed my return.
18. all of the angels He surrounded me with throughout my entire working career… protecting me for the predators who we all know all too well that exist in EVERY workplace.
     
    I was privileged enough to tell most of them that they were my HEROs, though the last few like Gord, Roger, Andy, Paul, Hardip, and Glen, were not told this, nor how honoured I was to have worked for them, and how thankful I am to them for their protecting me every time they were able to.
19. my parents, my beloved step-mom and my favourite great aunt Milly whom are now all crossed over. They do not have to suffer through all of the nasty and corrupt changes happening in Canada and the world today.
20. finally finding out more about my 2x great grandparent’s oldest daughter Ann Jane Parr who remained elusive during far too many years of family researching.
     
    Now we know who she married, how many children she had and who they were, when she passed away, and where she was buried/rests. Yeaaaaah! Ann Jane Parr is now found!
21. for having brave family members (cousins and my father) who served in all of the wars, some even giving their lives in order to protect my freedom, and that of all immigrants coming to North America to this day.
22. …though this may sound odd… having suffered the life-altering, physical injuries that I have in the past, as I have been forced to learn to not only eat better (less sugar!) but also forced to exercise regularly, in order to be able to remain flexible.
     
    And now I am strong enough to be able to my own shovel snow (yeeeah, no more having to depend on others!), trim my own bushes, cut my own grass, and clean my own home.
23. the trust given my business by so many different local businesses (see testimonies at the bottom of the loading page) who have needed a website at one point in time or another. It sure is a treat to have served so many grateful local business owners, politicians and even a ministry.

If it is one thing that I have learned over the years it is that your circumstances do not dictate the quality of your life but your attitude certainly does.

As Joyce Meyer says…
“It is so easy to forget how blessed we are! Maintaining an attitude of gratitude is something we need to do on purpose.”

So, now it’s your turn to start writing down all that YOU are thankful for so that you can have an attitude of gratitude too!

Wishing you all a HAPPY THANKSGIVING, whether you are celebrating in the United States or have celebrated already in Canada.