Back when I had my old blog a few years ago, one of my blog friends started doing Gratitude Tuesdays and I joined in.  We went through the alphabet, and each week we would pick out some things that started with said letter that we were grateful for.

It was SUCH a good exercise!!!  Even back then, when I was a lot more lost and a lot more lonely, it started changing my whole perspective on things.  Suddenly I was recognizing all the big and small things around me that I was grateful for, and my life started seeming much more full and wonderful.

So I am starting again!  As much as I am thankful for so much in my life and happy about many things, I am also unhappy about a number of things (mostly self-frustrations), and stressed about a number of things (mostly business and money), and I often beat myself up, I often feel unfulfilled, I often feel a little lonely with my sad thoughts.  So I need some sprucing up of my perspective!!

Last time I would literally go through a dictionary and pick out so so many things that started with said letter.  It was fun and I loved doing it, and I loved having my big list and writing a bit about each one.  I really loved everything about it!  But then I was living alone with just my two kitties, and at most would have to skype with my now-husband so I had a lot of free time to look through dictionaries and write long posts.  Now not so much.  So instead each week I’m not going to pressure myself, but I’ll just come up with a few things that come to mind and be happy with that.  I’m talking to myself now – I will NOT pressure myself into getting stressed about this and feeling like I have to include every possible thing!  It’s a simple and fun exercise so no need to be all-inclusive with every possible thing that starts with said letter.  If I forget one or two things and think of them later, I can either add them on or put them on the list for when I start over!  And I may have to go back and re-read these rules for myself cause I know I’ll want to not forget anything! (Okay I broke this already, but not in a bad way.  I was blanking on A words, could only come up with 3, so I quickly browsed an online dictionary.  It was okay cause I didn’t stress and didn’t take tons of time doing it, and didn’t pick out every single word that I could possibly be grateful for!  So I’ll do it like that from now on but make sure no stressing and no overdoing it!)

For my first Gratitude Tuesday, I start of course with the letter A.  Here are some things that begin with the letter A that I am grateful for and that make my life better!

Appreciation – it feels great to be appreciated, for someone to tell you that.  And it feels good to be able to appreciate people and things, too.

Acceptance – my family and friends accept me for who I am and love me.  I’m sure they recognize many if not most of my faults, and yet they still see more good in me than bad, and love me.  Being accepted is humbling but also feels really good.

Apple products – I love my iPhone and my iMac.  I have a love/hate relationship with the iPad since it’s my husband’s and whenever he goes to bed without me I imagine him looking at things I wouldn’t like on it.  So I really hate the iPad but not from any fault of its own.  But Apple products have made life easier and more fun, I love them!  And I love the camera on my iPhone and all the fun apps!

Airplanes – I’m grateful for how easy and fast it is to get places now.  I don’t fly a lot but when I do I am so appreciative of the whole means of travel and how easy and efficient it is.

Air conditioning – it’s the middle of winter so I’m right now using my space heater and turning up the thermostat all the time, but I probably hate the extreme heat even more than I hate the cold, so I am SO grateful for air conditioners during the summer – both in our house and in the car, and even in stores!

Acceleration – yes it jumped out at me when quickly scanning a dictionary online.  It would be hard to drive without acceleration.  And I love the acceleration on the Seadoo at my parents’ cottage, I feel so alive when speeding so fast along the water on it!  And I love being able to accelerate past a slow slow driver.

Acoustic guitars – I wish I would have learned when I was very young.  I tried a few times during the 2000′s but never made it past the first few lessons.  I still have my old used guitar.  I LOVE the sound of acoustic guitars.  I love listening to someone strumming them and singing any song.  I love the coolness factor.  If I have a son I will so encourage him to learn to play!

Alcatraz – the TV show.  I’m still not sold on it, but it’s entertaining and has a bit of what made Lost one of the best shows ever, so I’m hoping it gets better. And Hurley is in it, although not Hurley but I still like seeing him. And it gives me something to record and watch the next day.  But I still miss Lost.

Again – it’s a concept but I’m grateful for it.  I love that Elsa knows the word so I ask her if she wants to do something again and she gets so excited for it.  I love that I can kiss her again and again and again and not have to stop at one time.  I love that I can relive all the wonderful moments of her life so far again and again.

Alarms (fire, carbon monoxide, etc.) – they make me feel safe, help me worry a little less.

Alphabet – sounds silly, but I’m glad we have a simple alphabet (unlike Chinese) so I can express myself easily through words!

Attitude – I’m grateful that a person’s attitude is so important to how we perceive the world, and that we have control of our own attitudes, so we have so much control over how we view and experience the world just by our own attitudes.  It’s good to have that power and ability.  I know there are people living with and dealing with hard situations who still manage to be happy because of their attitudes, it’s both humbling and inspiring.  I am grateful that I can adjust my attitude to one of being positive and happy, without anything actually changing.  That’s pretty cool when you think about it!

Amniotic fluid – it let me carry my daughter for 9 months, enough said!

Animals – furry animals make me happy!  And reading Elsa her books over and over constantly reminds me of the amazing number of cool animals on this earth!

Anticipation – I love anticipation!  It’s fun and exciting and makes life great!  I love anticipating a trip, a visit with friends, a fun night, and even anticipating my husband coming home at dinnertime for the evening.  I was reminded of that over the weekend when he was working really late into the evening every day and I missed having that anticipation of knowing he would be home soon.  And I loved the anticipation when I was pregnant, that was the best!  And I even love the anticipation when waiting to find out if I’m newly pregnant cause even with a bad answer, the anticipation was still fun and exciting!

Apple cider – when I was growing up in Michigan we always had apple cider in the fall, it was part of the season.  And every year at least one time we would go to the local apple orchard and get hot apple cider and homemade donuts.  The smell of hot apple cider brings me back and will always feel special and decadent to me because of those early experiences.

Art – I’m grateful that there are so many kinds of art, and so much inspiration out there.  Art is beautiful and takes us to another place when it touches us.  And I love that I can create a form of art.