Daily Gratitude Lists

So far it’s about half way through November - gratitude month.  Of the positivity training requirements, I’ve only really been good about writing in my journal daily.  It hasn’t had much of an effect on my positivity since I haven’t been good at adhering to the practices.  Mostly, I only workout every other day and then I only meditate after I work out.  And my random acts of kindness don’t really happen because after school is usually when I hide in my house until late afternoon as to avoid being laughed – doesn’t leave a lot of time for me to do nice things randomly for others…so I’m pretty behind on bettering myself. 

But my journal entries including what’s been going on, my gratitude lists, and what I like about Malawi are pretty up-to-date.  So, thought I’d share a sample of my daily gratitude lists from the first half of the month with you.  Sorry if these aren’t interesting to anyone but me.  But it IS interesting to note how these lists would be different if I were anywhere but the Third World.  You wouldn’t think so, but I’ve found it really tough to hammer out three a day without overlapping too much and also retaining some semblance of seriousness in the project.

Thursday, November 1:

1. Pooping, real good pooping

2. Rob cooked all meals today, I got to stay out of the kitchen the whole time!

3. Rain water filling up all my buckets with zero effort on anyone’s part!

Friday, November 2:

1. Having water to flush down the toilet

2. Dinner by candle light when the electricity is out

3. When the electricity comes back on

Saturday, November 3:

1. Saturday morning sleep-in’s slash reading the morning away in bed

2. A newly cleaned kitchen. Ahhhhh.

3. Rain storms.  I just love them.

Monday, November 5:

1. Naps with the cat when Robert’s here to make sure the house doesn’t burn down, turn away visitors, and wake up to.  ESPECIALLY when those naps are only like, an hour, and I wake up feeling totally refreshed.  AND Rob’s done the dishes while I was asleep.

2.  Rob took Kitty’s half-eaten dead mouse out of the house for me.  And yesterday he also took out her dead snake.  These are things I very much don’t do (and if I DO have to do them I agonize about it for hours and gag and yell whilst doing it) and I am thus immensely grateful to him.

3.  Foot rubs. Man, good day today!

Wednesday, November 7:

1. Good writing!!! There’s so much crap out there, I’m sure I’ve ranted about this before.  But so many of these dumbass authors think their thoughts are worth our time!  Like the dummy who wrote Twilight.  Dude, if I were her I would never show my face outside again.  Or I’d change my name and never ever mention the fact that I was the idiot mind behind that detestable series.  After I read her dumb books my brain wanted to take a long scalding shower to scour away the dumbness.  Anyway, it’s so nice when someone writes something truly worthwhile.  Thank you, Barbara Kingsolver, for not writing crap.

2. Really delicious food, especially of the meat variety

3. The views on my walk to school

Saturday, November 10:

1. Having a sibling.  I think that’s gonna turn out to be really important.

2. Endorphins after a good workout

3. This freaking lake, man!  It’s unbelievable!

Sunday, November 11:

1. Mac and cheese.

2. Doug and his wagging tail

3. No traffic, no road rage, no frustrated honking.  On the same note, no constant buzz of a refrigerator or incessant background noise of a television.  Just humans chatting in the daytime and bugs chatting at night.  Nothing unnecessary.  I think the phrase I’m looking for is “peace and quiet”.

Monday, November 12:

1. This house I live in that has totally become my home.  I really love it here.

2. Mom and Dad for all the usual things I’m grateful for towards them

3. Cool breezes after climbing tough hills on a hot day

Wednesday, November 14:

1. Bug spray and mosquito nets

2. Free mangos! Way to go, fruit-bearing trees, you’re awesome!

3. I’m honestly grateful to be a (Western) women, I get grow and give birth to a life and then feed it from my own body.  I think that’s really f’ing cool.  Sucks to be a guy and miss out on that whole unique experience.  Well, sucks to be a guy in the West, where there is increasingly fewer benefits to being a guy. 

(4. Rob.  It IS his birthday today. Gotta give a gratitude shout out.)

Friday, November 16:

1. The sunrise and sunset.  Every time we take the time to watch them we think they’re really cool.  But they happen every day, they’re actually happening somewhere in the world all the time, constantly!  But we only notice them some of the time.  It’s too bad, because, like I said, they’re really cool to watch.  The sky puts on a daily show for us and we only think to watch if we’re not doing anything else.  Man, Chikwina has the best freaking sunrises and sunsets.  Grade A.

2. When my kids come to my house to ask for math help

3. A solid, well-timed, well-deserved high five that validates the bonds of friendship.  One of those that’s right on target and leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment.  Like, that was a solid high five.