Gratitude with a side of Cheese

Okay.  So if you weren't following me yesterday, I am not surprised.  It is not that I have a plethora of followers...but then we all start somewhere, right.  Well...considering I started this blog over 7 years ago I am not so sure I am going to be the next Dave Barry (but darn it, it is fun to dream!).  Side note: I just learned something.  I always thought that Dave Barry was spelled with an 'e' like a berry.  Then, I decided, since I have something like 10 followers. I better make sure to spell it right.  I was wrong!  Thank you Google (and if Google would like to sponsor my blog, that would be amazing.  Where else will you reach 10 amazing people?!). 

As usual, I digress.  I started to blog about my friend Dawn's new book, "Recipes for Being - The Power of Seven," yesterday.  I promised that I would blog about the second chapter today.  However, I was on Facebook quietly stalking my friends, I mean reviewing everyone's posts, and I found a community center sign that I just loved.  (For those who are concerned, I was looking while I was in the line at Starbucks so I was not technically driving.  Also, did you know that the person at Starbucks can see you when you order?!  I have not noticed that before and man, if it has been like that for a while, I have totally been rude.  Ugh.)  Oh yeah, the sign.  A very creative community center has a sign that has so many humorous phrases and it was posted on someone's page.  One of the slogans really tickled me.  It was "Say No To Shredded Cheese.  Make America Grate Again."  Oh my gosh.  That just got me! Thank goodness not while I was being watched by Nicklaus at Starbucks.  After reading that I got to thinking.  My fridge has been out for a few weeks.  I mean it keeps things cool...but not really "I am still going to drink this milk after two days" cool and the freezer doesn't freeze nor cool to the point where it is any more cold than the fridge.  Basically I have a cooling space for water.  BUT...I can keep water cold (but no cheese, grated OR shredded). 

This made me think that I blogged once about oxymoron's.  I think it was one of my first blogs ever...about doughnut holes.  The English language has always humored me.  We have oxymoron's (another side note for any of my grammar nazi friends...why does spell check make me put an apostrophe in oxymoron's but not morons?) and we have homophones.  Words that sound the same but mean something different and/or are spelled differently.  For instance: To, too, and two or hear and here.  Seriously...how did we ever graduate first grade.  More concerning...we accepted this as okay, at least I think I did.  Anyway...homophones...you can tell I am in a rambling mood.  The two words I have become focused on are great and grate.  Great is big or important and grate was referred to on the sign I was talking about.  Yet, there is no such word as greatful but there is grateful and grateful has NOTHING to do with cheese or a drain cover (had to mention it too, darn homophones). 

There I was sitting at Starbucks thinking about Making America Grate Again, how great it was to know that the barista could see me in future visits, my gratefulness that I have a fridge, even if it does not work at full capacity, and then my gratitude to have enough money in my checking account to have come to Starbucks in the first place to have this wandering thought process.

Okay.  So, how does this relate to the book?  Did you remember that I was writing about the book at all?  I still am. Stay with me.  I am almost there. The second chapter was on the "Gratitude Portal."  Say what?  I totally thought Dr. Who, but it is referring to Ralph Waldo Emerson who said "stand guard at the portal of your mind." Cynthia, who penned this chapter, really hits it home with the law of attraction and how what you focus on will be what you attract.

I was actually grateful to realize that I do a lot of the things in the chapter already.  Gratitude is something that I have consciously worked on for many years.  Saying "Thank You" may not seem like a big task, but it is important to do.  My staff come to work and do amazing things every day.  I used to have a boss who told me that a paycheck was their way of saying thank you.  That just seems wrong.  I want them to know that I am thankful for all they do.  They make a positive difference in my life everyday because they are there.  I do thank God for the amazing life I have been given, the wonderful friends I have been blessed to know, and frankly, the ability to wake up every morning, so I must make sure they know that I am so very grateful for them. 

There are so many things we can choose to focus on and that energy can be wasted on concern and fear or it can be invested through gratitude.  I call it an investment because, over time, living a life with an attitude of gratitude will bring happiness and emotions that would be impossible to have otherwise. 

I am looking forward to journaling about my gratitude on a daily basis.  I won't give you the recipe that she gives...you'll have to get the book...but I am looking forward to being about to look back over 30 days and see how many wonderful things there are to be grateful for...hopefully they include a back-to-normal fridge full of food and, of course, a block of cheese. 

With Gratitude,
Matt