100 Things I’m Grateful for (part eight)

71. Thomas’ Light Multi-Grain English muffins

72. Getting unexpected packages in the mail

73. Thank-you notes

74. Top-down days

75. Flip-flops

76. Lefty’s gorgonzola-and-pear flatbread pizza

77. Whole Foods

78. Beautiful stationery

79. Crate and Barrel

80. Scented candles

81. NetFlix

82. New York cheesecake

100 Things I’m Grateful for (part seven)

59. Zucchini-carrot and pumpkin muffins from Summer Thyme

60. Cookbooks

61. The Internet

62. Organic produce

63. Farmers’ markets

64. Full-length mirrors

65. Bellinis

66. Blinis

67. Caviar

68. Grapefruit/red currant soap

69. Hand cream

70. The magic that Kim Vo does to my hair color

100 Things I’m Grateful for (part six)

51. Unexpected snowfalls, especially on Friday nights

52. Chequebooks that balance

53. Memories that make me smile

54. Mediterranean genes

55. The New York Times crossword puzzles

56. Caller ID

56. Voicemail

57. Soy meatballs

58. The mimosa tree outside my office window (and the hummingbirds that come with it)

100 Things I’m Grateful for (part three)

20. Having a best friend right in the neighborhood. That hasn’t been the case since I was a child. (Jan, this one’s for you.)

21. Really good sushi

22. Dogs

23. Remembering every rule of grammar and punctuation I ever learned

24. Barack Obama

25. Being required to take Latin in prep school

26. Brilliant novelists

27. The quality of conversation you can have on a long walk

28. A hot bath on a cold night

29. Warm bread and dipping oil

30. My new Ugg boots

100 Things I’m Grateful for (part two)

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here’s more for my list. Disjointed, yes, but that’s just how it is.

9. The opportunity to develop a real sibling relationship with my big brother

10. Kim’s blog, which is just like her: real, honest, and utterly delightful

11. Comments on my blog from morethananelectrician

12. A tailor who makes house calls

13. Lipstick that doesn’t come off until I take it off

14. Skinny jeans that are actually flattering

15. Music

16. Avocados

17. White peaches

18. Under-eye concealer

19. My BlackBerry

100 Things I’m Grateful for (part one)

My friend Kate gave me a little desktop book of daily teachings. Today’s words of wisdom are about using gratitude to shift your energy, and the suggestion is to write down 100 things you are grateful for each day.

I’m not sure I can do that. I have visions of myself frozen at my computer, terminally stuck on Tuesday’s number 15, paralyzed for the rest of the week, the month, the year.

But I’m going to try.

I am grateful for (in no particular order):

1. My friends. I have the best friends in the entire world. I have friends I could call at 3 a.m. and say “I need you,” and instead of asking why, they’d just reply, “I’m on my way.”

2. My husband. He’s brilliant, funny, attentive, kind, generous, and the most extraordinary partner on the planet. Life is infinitely richer with him.

3. My kids. Even though they’re young men now, they still call me Mommy. I love that.

4. My career. Sigh…writing books absolutely feeds my soul.

5. The peace of financial security

6. The comfort of living in a beautiful home

7. My health and fitness

8. The two furballs who keep me company in my office every day (and religiously try to steal my chair)

Gratitude

There are lots of scary people in this world–weird, thoughtless, rude, and certifiably crazy people. At the risk of being totally negative (something I can be very good at), their numbers are way too high for my comfort level. I see people do dangerous things, like blow through stop signs and drive like they’re on a racetrack. I see people do rude things, like allow their kids to get in other people’s faces because little Granola must be free to explore her world. I see people do unimaginably cruel things, like say frightening things to children just to prove that they’re right about something. And I see people do abominably self-righteous things, because they just don’t give a damn about the others with whom they share this planet.

The past week or so, it’s as if all the negativity escalated. Perhaps the contamination of the smoke has contaminated people’s psyches, as well, but whatever the reason, behaviors seems really out of hand. I discussed it with my friend Vicki today, and she immediately jumped on my bandwagon, because she has witnessed it, too–a subtle, insideous, then downright explosive display of truly bad conduct.

So we decided that the best way to beat it is by sending out some of the most positive energy we have. Airy fairy? I think not. We have to combat the negativity with all things positive–from forgiving the morons to conjuring up compassion to expressing gratitude for the good things we see and the wonderful people who occupy our lives. We have to embrace a half-full philosophy to get past the empty-headedness that is so rampant. And even if our gratitude gets no further along than “I’m so thankful I’m me and not you,” it’s a start.