Gratitude is a daily choice.

Throughout time, all kinds of books have been written on finding happiness. Everyone wants to be happy. What is happiness anyway? Happiness is temporary. Life is a roller coaster. No one can feel happy every minute of everyday, and if you do then you need to share your secrets with me! ;)

People look at me as a generally happy person though, and I am. Some people love that, and some people are annoyed by that I think. Misery loves company, and I refuse to let myself go down that path. Is it because I have nothing to be miserable about? The same things have come into my life as have in most of your cases. I once was told by someone on social media that I "live the good life". That made me laugh because it goes again to show that through social media we are often perceived in a different way than we might be in person. I am the same person behind this computer as you would find if you came to visit me here in New Jersey. What you get is what you see. I do live the good life, but it may be a different "good life" than what you think. I don't live in a fancy house, drive a fancy car, have tons of money in the bank, or live a life of luxury, but the things that I have and hold most precious are things money could never buy.

I believe it is imperative to keep life in perspective daily. I say daily, because as humans we are emotional beings, and things happen in our lives that could steal our joy. When I wake up each day, I do thank God for another day. I am here for some reason. At times I am not exactly sure what that reason is. For me right now though, my biggest reason is my three special blessings...my children. I have to be who I want to be and even more so, who I want them to be. They are ALWAYS watching me every minute of the day. I am one of the biggest influencers in their lives. It can be a lot of pressure when you think about it like that, but I look to God to give me daily wisdom and strength.

Okay now getting to gratitude..a few years ago a good friend told me to start each day by saying "thank you" when your feet hit the ground in the morning as you get out of bed. Sounds pretty corny to some, but I do this daily and it centers me.

We have had a really rough winter here in New Jersey as have had most of you in the United States. There has been so much snow. The kids have missed too many days of school that I honestly feel they will be going until July to make up for it. All my kids have been sick, and I feel like we continue to pass around the same gunk. We have visited our pediatrician more times this year than probably ever. My husband took a new position which has proved to be very challenging for our family. My husband's grandfather recently passed away almost exactly on the two year anniversary of my father in law's passing. Bad things have happened. Some days it would be easy to focus on this and get depressed. We all have things in our lives that are not ideal, and I get that. I was feeling pretty badly about some of this stuff the other day when I learned from a friend that one of the other moms in my daughter's class was just diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma which has spread to other organs, and it sure knocked me for a loop. At that point it was crystal clear to me that 1) I better start praying for this woman and her family and 2) I better stop feeling sorry about my own life. No matter how bad of a day I was having, it was NOTHING compared to thinking of not being here to see my children grow up (every mother's worst nightmare).

Perspective is everything isn't it? Most of the way we "feel" about the world is because of our own "view". How do we change that? For me, my faith of course is a huge part of it, but also....I think it's about counting our blessings DAILY! This is something I have tried to instill into my own children. Every Thursday morning at breakfast we do Thankful Thursday. I would love to be able to do this daily with them, but honestly some mornings are so crazy I just celebrate getting the girls to school on time and myself and the baby dressed and ready to see people at that time of day.

Take time to count your blessings, and you may realize that you also live "the good life" but maybe not in the same way that you had always wanted to. It's an instant mood booster I promise.

Here are a few quotes that I absolutely love:

1) It's not happiness that brings us gratitude. It's gratitude that brings us happiness. ANON.

2) Be thankful for what you have and you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have,  you will never, have enough. Oprah Winfrey.

3) Being happy doesn't mean you have it all, but that you are thankful for all you have!

There are so many more. I love positive life quotes, and usually share the ones that inspire me.
What are you grateful for today?