A lot of my blogs the past few months have been around the theme of choosing.  As I reflect back on the reason why, I believe it is because I have finally come to understand that regardless of what is going on in my life, I always have some control.

In Viktor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, he talks about that concept.  He was a neurologist and psychiatrist, interred into a concentration camp during the Holocaust.  He endured unimaginable horrors but survived by the deep understanding that when circumstances were horrendous, the last bastion of freedom was the freedom within to choose how to respond.  That inner strength, that inner grace in the face of adversity profoundly influenced fellow prisoners and even some of the prison camp guards.  After the war, he wrote the book and lectured on that theme…we always are in control of our response to circumstances.

Here are a couple of quotes from Man’s Search for Meaning:

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” …

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

I have decided this week to focus on “Purposeful Gratitude”.  Every day my goal is going to be to find some reason to be grateful and then in some way express that gratefulness whether on an index card I place around the house as a reminder, or a note to someone or a verbal expression.

Today, my husband and I are going to be “Nana” and “Poppa” to our little granddaughter.  She will be spending Saturday night with us and then will be with us through the remainder of the weekend as well as some other nights for the next 10 days.  The birth father is working now and his parents will be out of town for the next week so we will be helping.  My Gratitude Plan for today is to tell her how much we love her and how grateful we are to be able to be part of her life.  She is only 3 ½ so she won’t really understand the gratitude part.  It is enough that she will know that she is well loved.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day.  I want to convey to my dear hubbie how grateful I am for his constant support during the years of emotional trauma with the older daughter and more recently with the younger daughter.  My husband has been an anchor for me emotionally and an example of steadfast actions despite turmoil.  I’m pretty sure that without his example of staying grounded in the actions of day to day life and trust in God despite circumstances, I would emotionally have long since bounced into interstellar space without knowing how to get back.

A tribute of GRATITUDE to all the people in our lives who add warmth, meaning and color.