Sitting down and writing what you are grateful for is pretty difficult – and I am only on day two!  Gratitude to me does not come naturally! I am writing a separate list each day which I will paste in below as I share it on my Facebook and all the other social media thingos I feel compelled to shovel dribble at, or onto!

And in writing that list I, much like yesterday,  was taking a broad brush approach – much like when you ask people what they want most our of life and they say “To be Happy!”  It doesn’t really mean anything…

I have post-it notes all over my computer with my “Mantras”, lists of little positive sayings, priorities for the day and a bookshelf full of self help books….  for God sake my blog is called Being a Better Man!!!!

Grateful is a hard obsession for someone who is obsessed about being obsessed.

So after my grateful list today (only because I have already written it) I am going to use the www.gratitudechallenge.com calendar and let go of me thinking I am being the better man when I am just really being a control freak!!!!

So here (in an abridged version) is the calendar:

1. Today you start The Gratitude Challenge. Sign the contract and make a commitment to take note and give thanks for the next 21 days. Express why you accepted this challenge and what you hope to achieve from it.
2. One word, one letter of the alphabet for things which you feel grateful.
3. Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today.
4. Write a short message of thanks about the “negative” things in your life.
5. What are you grateful for today – now!
6. Take a few minutes to call someone you haven’t talked to in a while.
7. Take a picture of something you are grateful for.
8. Send thank you notes to five people who deserve a little recognition.
9. Enjoy the people around you.
10. Focus on one sense all day.
11. Try to see the world through the eyes of a child.
12. Everything today has a positive outlook.
13. View three friends or family members through only a positive lens.
14. Review the last two weeks since you started The Gratitude Challenge.
15. Focus on yourself today.
16. In front of the mirror – pick 5 things that you love about yourself.
17. Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today.
18. Write down why you are positively unique.
19. Review and celebrate your life choices in a positive way.
20. Write a thank you note to yourself.
21. Reflect on the 21 days of The Gratitude Challenge and what it meant to you.

…. and today I am grateful for (remember I wrote it before I reviewed the above calendar):

Today I am grateful for:

1. Being Alive
   I know I put this one yesterday as my number one but I had to mention it again – you see I was adopted. So, I am lucky to be alive and put up for adoption – thanks heaps birth Mum Wendy.

2. Having Met my Birth Sister
   Thanks again birth Mum Wendy – I am so very grateful to have my full sister Jo in my life.

3. My adopted Mum and Dad
   I miss them everyday, but I am so grateful they chose me. They are just in my heart everyday.

4. Friends
   You know you have good friend because just thinking of them makes you happy.

5. Technology
   I just love it. When I was a kid I watched science fiction movies and was so disappointed when I thought I would never see these things in my life. Now they are here!

6. Electricity
   The marvel of just flicking a switch and everything comes on. Technology would be a bust without it.

7. Photographs
   I have 58,000 photographs on my computer – they are just like little windows to a moment…. I love looking at them, I weirdly enough love looking at other people photographs even if I don’t know who the people are…!!??.

8. People who Accept Me
   I am not the easiest person to get on with or the best of friends – but, there is a group of people who just accept me, why? I don’t know, but, sht, I am grateful to them – they humble me.

9. Stationery
   I love to write letters – stationery is my friend.

10. Change
    It drive us crazy, but makes us better. I love the feeling of getting out of a rut, even if it is through a change you didn’t instigate or want. Change is, will always be and often is actually better than a holiday.