I interviewed a woman the other day for my weekly military veterans profile series for the newspaper.
She spent 24 years in the Army, retiring as a staff sergeant and heading home in a wheelchair.
This veteran of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia told me that in spite of all the pain and suffering (physical and mental) she went through, and no longer being able to walk, she has absolutely no regrets about joining the military while she was still in high school. Even if she had known how things would turn out, she would do it all over again.
Remarkable.
Being grateful for what you have and not wishing for things you don’t have …
Gratitude.
It’s important.
Learning to be grateful is a huge key to happiness.
One way I try to maintain an attitude of gratitude is by writing in my journal ever morning.
I start each day’s entry like this:
I AM grateful today for:
Then I write three things. Big things like my family, my home, my finances, love, friendship, my life, my health. Or it could be little things like coffee, a place to practice pole vault, the gym where i work out. Could be a mixture of both.
If nothing else, I write “breathing” three times.
It’s hard to be unhappy when you develop an attitude of gratitude.
Important to remember that.
What are you grateful for today?
