Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Contentment

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Content, Contentment, Grateful, satisfaction, Satisfied, Thankful, Thanks

When was the last time you looked at your life and said, “I’m satisfied?”

It is so easy to complain about our lives or compare it with the lives of others. Complaining focuses us on the lack in our lives—some deficiency that needs filled—something we need or some place we need to go. If only we had this or that we would finally be happy.

We all need ambition and need to survive, but endless worry and concern about what is missing in our lives is unhealthy. Instead, we should look for the things we are thankful for—the things that satisfy. When you combine ambition with the thought “I have enough”, life takes on a whole new meaning.

 

Earlier in life I found myself in a predicament. Disappointment and discontent overtook my life. I wanted more. I didn’t like my job; I didn’t like my living conditions, and I didn’t enjoy being single. I contemplated my life for a few days. Then the answer came. The answer was gratitude.

Gratitude gave me the opportunity to appreciate my job, my home, my life. It gave me the opportunity to be thankful for the little things. Little things like a sunny day, a warm breeze, a cup of coffee with a good book. When you can appreciate what you have, life is more satisfying. You can still have goals. You can still have aspirations. You can still have a desire for things you want. Your desire, however, changes. It evolves to a desire disconnected from feelings of discontent, jealousy, or unfairness. Your desire to achieve is more about the challenge, not what you will receive at the end of the race. Do you see the difference?

We could always live in a better place, drive a better car, have a better job, or lose weight. Set goals and aspire to these things. Do not let your current lot in life prevent your happiness. Look for things in your life that make you happy. Happiness is not out there, it is inside of you. It is so much easier to accomplish goals from a place that is happy rather than sad and deprived. When you have enough, anything that comes into your life is a bonus.

As always, thank you for following Daily Ramblings. We’ve added 24 followers over the last month. I appreciate your patronage. Don’t be a stranger. If you like something I’ve written or disagree with a posting, I’m all ears. Comment below.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Happy Valentine’s Day

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Challenges, God, Grateful, Loved, Satisfied, Thankful, Valentine's Day

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”―Seneca

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you that celebrate. Today is the day we celebrate our loved ones. It is a day of delivering cards, candies, and taking the time to express our gratitude to the one’s we love.

How opportune that Valentine’s Day aligns with my Thankful Thursday posts. I am grateful for my wife. I love her beyond words. She is the one who takes care of me when I’m sick. She laughs with me, cries with me, and shares the burden of life with me. I am grateful she chose me to live her life with. I am eternally grateful for my wife.

I am also thankful for the new followers this week. I hope my blog is meeting your expectations. If you’re new, today is the one day a week I express my gratitude publicly for the things I have. We all have something to be grateful for. I use Thursdays to express my gratitude publicly to remind you you have something to be grateful for.

I am grateful for life’s challenges. Challenges provide us with the opportunity to solve problems. Challenges keep things interesting. Challenges make us stronger and more resilient.

I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for good health. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my folks are in their late seventies and enjoy their senior years with them. I am grateful for the morning conversations over coffee, talking about the news of the day, family memories, or what we will do today.

I am grateful for health. I am grateful that I can go to the gym and push myself beyond my limits every day. I am grateful for the access I have to good food. I am grateful for the technology we have available to us that allows me to learn new things, read new books, listen to music, play the games I like, and to create.

I am grateful for my new followers and the conversations I have with them. I am grateful for the ability to create a blog that people enjoy.

I am grateful for this life. It is an adventure that keeps me going, provides a multitude of opportunities, and challenges me daily.

I am grateful for God’s love. A love that transcends all and provides me with a feeling I am never alone.

I am grateful.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Grateful, Gratitude, Happiness, Satisfied

“If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.” – Rabbi Harold Kushner

Gratitude, like happiness, is all about realizing that we are grateful and happy right now. Like anything in life, if you are chasing after something, you will continue to chase it for all of your life. You chase something because you believe you lack what you are seeking—get it?

If one is grateful for the home they have, the bed they have, the food they have, the health they have, the talents they have, and all the rest, life, for some reason continues to give you reasons to be grateful and happy.

How do we develop a habit of gratitude? It’s actually easier than you might think. You merely begin each day thinking about 1, 2, or 3 things that you are sincerely grateful for. Take a few moments and think. What are you grateful for right now? Is it your health? Is it your family? Is it a pet? Is it a book you are reading? You can be grateful for anything in your life, regardless of how rich or poor you are. There is always something in our lives we can truly be grateful and happy for having.

I have mentioned in other posts about my gratitude journal. You can either buy yourself a journal or you can use an electronic version. The one I use is electronic and is called the Five Minute Journal (easy to find in the Apple App store). It costs about $5.00 US, but it does not require an annual fee or anything once you’ve downloaded it. It’s a terrific app.

If you need some help finding something to be grateful for in your life, feel free to reach out. You can also respond here with any tools you use to capture gratitude in your life.

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day!

See you tomorrow!