10 Things

I was going to write a more somber blog as that is how I am feeling right now; however, I decided that instead of focusing on the sadness and lost emotions, I was going to focus on being happy. After all, that was one of my New Year’s Resolutions…look how well I’m doing, huh.

I watched a brief, yet excellent TED Talk film (I love TED Talks, they’re so inspiring! Not to mention intellectually stimulating) about being happy. The speaker said: The one way to be happy is to be grateful. To focus on the opportunity given to you, and enjoy it.

“Every moment is a new gift…The key to happiness is to be grateful.”

He explains while we cannot be grateful for everything, we can be grateful for every given moment and opportunity. In order to find these opportunities, we must stop, look, and listen. Waiting. Patience. Learning.

So. 10 Things for which I am grateful/things that make me happy:

1) I am grateful for my faith. Even when I fail and stray from the righteous path, I have the opportunity to redeem myself and work to become a better person.

2) I am grateful for my family and friends. Lord knows without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. They are the ones that love and support me through thick and thin, through the victorious moments and the humbling defeats. Even through awkward experiences, troublesome times, and also times of great joy and laughter, they are the ones who are there to experience it with me.

3) I am grateful for my gift of introverted-ness. As strange as that sounds, it has taught me how to be a better listener. Through others experiences, I have taken heed as well as warning to various situations and life lessons. Applicable or not, their stories give me insight into a world deeper than my own and the one I see daily.

4) I am grateful for my ability to tap into an abstract like emotion when I write. Writing, like music, is another way for me to find some sanity or relieve stress/convey my mental state without directly saying it.

5) I am grateful for music. When I am at a loss of words to describe my happiness, or the tears roll so hard they choke me, or anger boils over till all I see is a fist disappearing into a pillow, there’s music. A comfort, a relief, a place of peace.

6) I am grateful for the gym. AMEN TO HEALTHY LIVING! I love my workouts – there’s never such a thing as an easy day with me. If anything, it’s either challenging, hard (@irbuzz can attest to that. She thinks my workouts are fun too), or you’re still trying to catch your breath while toweling off the sweat on your forehead.

7) I am grateful for my education. To be at one of the greatest universities in the entire country is humbling, motivating, and inspiring. Enjoy these moments, the good and the bad: although you are only a student in the system for so long, you will forever be a student of life.

8) I am grateful for my health. We take our health for granted far too often – you never know when life could throw it’s next curveball or what fate has in store.

9) I am grateful for my job and my coworkers. I work with some pretty spectacular people.

10) I am grateful for the life I’ve been given. I take this life of mine for granted far too often than I should. I am learning to accept the fact that in this life, I will make mistakes. I will fail many times over before I succeed. But with each failure, I will take away new lessons; I will get back up and try again. It’s the idea of learning to love and forgive others, myself included.

When you learn gratitude, that is when you know the true definition of happiness.

~cheers~