The 100 Years Club Installment #98: The 30 Gratitudes

First, a little history behind this “Gratitude Series.”

Four years ago, in November 2020, I launched the gratitude series. The pandemic was a tough time for all of us, and I sought things to make myself feel better about life and the world around me.

This week marks the third anniversary of my mother’s death and my broken ankle. But, I was still able to come up with things for which I felt thankful.

For some reason, I felt slightly sorry for myself (or overwhelmed with work and life) in 2023 and didn’t create a list. It happens to the best of us.

But it’s back! This annual “tradition” helps me:

1. Reflect on the year gone by
2. Think deeply about who and what belongs in my inner circle. (I even looked at people and things who made the list multiple years. I’m super-grateful for those!)
3. Praise those people and things that made life better
4. Turn  thoughts from holiday stress and negativity to joyous things
5. Perfect my Canva and social media skills 🙂 I know that a lot of negative buzz about AI is swirling around these days, but technology has definitely enabled me to become more creative and take what’s in my head, manifest it on a screen, and push it out into the world

This exercise has proven to me that no matter how many sucky and disturbing things are going on in the world and in your life, you can probably think of at least 20 things and people who made your life a little better (and vice versa).

As I age, I encounter lots of cranky and negative people. Especially in this environment, hatred and name-calling seem to abound.

But one of the lessons I learned from my late mother is to always find at least ONE little spec of positivity and try to celebrate that.

Realism and pragmatism are essential, but let’s try to find those fresh berries in the cornucopia (see below) of our daily lives.

If you want to create YOUR list this year (20, 30, 40, or even more or less), please contact me and I’ll happily share the template with you!

I’m grateful that you read this all the way to the end!

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A few tiny things you may be grateful you learned:

	Did you ever wonder what a cornucopia is and its origins?
	Here’s how often people express gratitude — and who they do it to
	Understanding ungrateful behavior
	Learn to practice daily gratitude here