DAY 20

Today I am grateful for: a little flower

Now don't get too excited - these flowers are not from Mr First Date from earlier in the week (who by the way, hasn't called... sad....). I bought them for myself on the way home from work. Not sure what prompted me to - I just decided I needed something beautiful in the house to make me smile.

My friend Selena emailed me this quote today and it got me thinking about being happy:

“… happy people spend a lot of time being grateful for what they have and savouring their experience. They don’t rush through “now” to get to later. They don’t make taking care of themselves or taking care of their families something they have to get over with so they can get to the good stuff. Instead, they insist that this moment, whatever it is, is the good stuff.” – Colin Beavan, author “No Impact Man”

I realised that I spent pretty much all of my 20's waiting. Waiting for my husband to turn up so my real life could begin. I didn't think that being single was a rewarding way to spend my life, so I waited. As in the quote, I was just trying to 'get over' the single purgatory that I was in. I woke up one day last year and realised what I had done, and I was sad and angry. What a waste of days. What a waste of moments I could have been happy in.

I guess this is what my '100 days of grateful' is for. It is helping me to assist my brain into being happy by showing it things to be grateful for. When I focus on what I have, and not what I have not, things are a little easier.

I'm grateful for flowers. I grateful that I don't have to wait for a man to buy them for me - I can pick out any bunch that catches my eye. I can bring them home, put them in a beautiful vase, and smile.

Today these words from Hans Christian Andersen ring in my soul:

Just living is not enough, said the butterfly, one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower