Today, for better or for worse, the world is well connected. Breaking news reaches us constantly on our cellphone. For sure, there are some things that are helpful for us to know in real-time, such as dangerous weather in the immediate area. For the most part, however, our lives are not exactly impacted daily by external events.
So, perhaps around the year 2000, as a preemptive antidote, I decided to write three things for which I am grateful every single night. After all, the rest of the world is not in charge of making me happy. Only I can do that for myself.
In the beginning, I used to handwrite them in notebooks. The initial collection was destroyed in 2008 in a fire at our then-residence in Bloomfield Township, where we had lived since 1984. I believe those that were written after the fire through early 2018 are stored in boxes.
The record indicates that, since April 30, 2018, I’ve switched to writing them electronically in OneNote. It is quite convenient because it’s an app on my iPhone that goes everywhere with me. There is no need for a physical storage space. Come to think of it, however, I’ve never gone back to read any of the daily entries. Perhaps I will someday when I get in the mood to reminisce about past events.
Spiritually, the cumulative effect of the daily gratitude journal has been quite helpful over the years. It is like a silent friend that acknowledges and accepts my daily thoughts, whatever they are – good, bad, and/or ugly. And I am generally happy and content with my life. This is in stark contrast to my childhood, which was filled with anger, insecurities, and unhappiness.
I have come a long way. I’m grateful for that.
Life is good.
