I’m continuing to post about things I’m thankful for on Thursdays for the month of November. I think about being thankful every day but it’s nice to take some take to acknowledge it in a special way at this time of year.

1. I’m thankful for the Thanksgiving Luncheon that was yesterday at the Council on Aging where I work. There were 65 seniors in attendance and we had volunteers from the police department and town hall to help with serving and cleaning up. This was the first big event for our new cook and she did a fabulous job cooking all of those turkeys and sides. The best part for me was sharing this moment with my colleagues and just being with the seniors that attend, hearing their stories, seeing them enjoy a slice of pie, and wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving. It’s one of my favorite days at the COA and I’m truly thankful to be a part of something that brings joy to a lot of people.
2. I’m thankful for one week ago tonight when Dale and I babysat Jackie. We took him out to dinner, which was really fun, and then brought him back to our house where we played and hung out. He’s quite good at playing by himself and it’s so fun to watch him do that. He eventually fell asleep on the couch and when Dale went to bed I tucked Jackie in next to him while I waited up for his Mom and Dad to come get him. When I went in to check on him he had snuggled up to Dale and they were both sound asleep and it filled my heart with so much gratitude to see that.
3. I’m thankful that I’ll be celebrating Friendsgiving this Saturday at Sean’s house. I know it will be a wonderful time of food and fun and wine and friends. You just can’t go wrong with that combination!

There are so many moments in a week to be thankful for if we just stop and look for them.

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I’m a long time listener of the podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin as well as Happier in Hollywood with Liz Craft (Gretchen’s sister) and Sara Fain. As you can probably tell, both of these podcasts promote being happier and I’m a big proponent of that, too. Today I’m sharing 3 things I am doing right now to make myself happier.

1. The first is one I actually got from the podcast and that is to do something that will make my future self happier. That may sound strange but it’s actually pretty simple when you think of it. It’s really just a trick to prevent procrastination but I use it a lot. Sometimes it’s a simple as getting gas on the way home from work instead of putting it off until the morning and sometimes it’s more complex like doing a report I don’t feel like doing on a Wednesday afternoon so that I won’t wake up in the night thinking about how I have to get that damn report done. (Yes. That’s what I did yesterday.) And really, this can be applied to so many things! Do I necessarily feel like making a pot of soup on a Sunday afternoon? Nope. But will I be making my Wednesday self happy because lunch will be in the fridge and I won’t have to get expensive and not so great take out? Absolutely. I bet as you’re reading this you can think of something you can do today that your future self will thank you for.
2. I just recently started keeping a gratitude journal. This is something I have struggled with in the past but this new routine I have of just writing down 5 things while I wait for my coffee to brew is really working for me. It’s fast and easy and it starts my day on a truly positive note. I tend to think of things that happened the previous day and I’ve even caught myself thinking throughout the day about whether something is worthy of putting in the gratitude journal the next morning. Sometimes I feel like I’m just writing down my 5 favorite things about the previous day but I’m working on that and trying to notice whether I’m feeling grateful about something or whether I’m just glad something happened. And honestly, maybe that distinction doesn’t even matter. The point is that writing about things I’m grateful for is making me happier.
3. This one might seem counterintuitive but the third thing I’m doing to make myself happier is just not worrying about whether I’m feeling happy or not. I mean, I’m a generally happy person and I operate on an even keel most of the time. I’ve found myself in a funk now and again recently, though, and my initial reaction was to analyze my feelings and figure out why I felt off/upset/edgy. I wondered if it was something with the moon cycle or hormones or my life coaching work. And then a friend, a very wise friend, said to me, don’t worry so much about why you feel this way. Think about how you are feeling and then lean in to those feelings. Really? Lean in? Lean in to the sadness and upset? That seemed so weird to me but I trust this person so I did it. I let myself feel my feelings, I literally pictured myself leaning forward into a sort of blue cloud, and guess what? I started to feel better. I didn’t need to analyze anything, I didn’t need to ignore the feelings or stifle the feelings or discuss the feelings, I just needed to feel the freaking feelings. It helped. A lot. And I’m sort of amazed.

Can you think of something you can do right now to make yourself happier? I bet you can.

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I’ve come up with a theme for this week’s Three On Thursday Post. Self Care. Ready to hear about three things I have done (and am doing) that fall under this theme? Here goes.

1. On Tuesday after work I did the at home strength training workout that Kym shared that day. I was familiar with all of the exercises thanks to the work I did years ago with a trainer and it all came right back to me, at least from a I-know-how-to-do-this standpoint. From a physical stand point, I’ll be completely honest, it was a challenge. Not the squats (those have always been my favorite) and not the arm stuff or even the plank but the lunges? Lunges are hard for me, they were even when I was training regularly. And the jumping jacks? Not fun. But guess what? I did them anyway and even though my thighs were on fire yesterday it was worth it and I’m going to keep doing this because it’s not only fast but it’s also very very manageable for me right now.
2. While I was reading Women Food & God last weekend I googled Geneen Roth to see if she ever offers workshops in my area. Timing is everything because I discovered that she is having a 2 day retreat in Massachusetts on Columbus Day Weekend that’s called Women, Weight & Power. Ummm, hello? Could this be any more perfect for me and for the things I’ve been working on lately? Nope. I signed up before I could talk myself out of it. Of course, in my typical fashion, I immediately regretted it and started trying to find a way to get out of it. But I’m going. I’m terrified. But I’m going.
3. I’ve renewed my commitment to meditating. I had gotten lax about this over the summer but with the return to routine that has come in the last few weeks I’ve been meditating for at least 10 minutes every morning before work. It feels great to start the day this way and I’m very happy to be doing this again.

There’s other stuff, too, like my daily gratitude journal (still going strong) and the work I’m doing with my life coach and using essential oils but those three up there are the big ones. And this is me being vulnerable again, sharing the scary stuff like weight and power and starting over and getting things wrong but also sometimes getting things right.

How ’bout that?

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