December Gratitude Challenge



I loved reading all the recent gratitude-themed blog posts. As I said in my Friday Five post on gratitude, I started the year with one word to live by instead of making resolutions, and that word was gratitude. I got away from it a little bit, but with only one month left in the year, I want to re-focus on having a gratitude attitude.

In her article last week on Runner's World, Mile Markers columnist Kristin Armstrong said it best:
"It is impossible to get off on the wrong foot when you step out in gratitude. It is impossible to think negatively when you are focusing on the positive. It is impossible to have a mindset of scarcity when you are espousing abundance. It is impossible to be judgmental, resentful, or divisive when you are thankful for your relationships (especially the complicated ones). It is impossible to miss the lessons when you give thanks for your setbacks and challenges. It is impossible to miss the joy when you are on the lookout for blessings. It is impossible to miss the moment when you are present and rooted in each one as it comes."

So for the month of December (excuse the delay, but I started yesterday), I'm challenging myself to spending time every day thinking of a minimum of five things I'm grateful for. Yesterday my list quickly snowballed from five things to more than I could count. The same happened today, but I'll share the first five that I remember.
  1. I appreciated some new cold weather running gear on my morning run, when it was 26 and felt like 21. 
  2. My route to run intervals is on the river trail between PNC Park and Heinz Field, so I get to run my intervals between the homes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.
  3. I got to see pretty holiday lights on the hills of the West End and Mount Washington neighborhoods on my dark early-morning run.
  4. I successfully spotted chicken bones before my dog did on our walk, and he obeyed the "leave it" command. (He is a really bad food scavenger on walks, and this is something we work on daily. And yes, there are bones on the ground everywhere in my neighborhood. I won't say what I think of that because it wouldn't be very grateful.) 
  5. My greyhound Django has a big photo on the December page of my greyhound calendar, so I get to see him all day when I'm at work.
Django is on the top left.
 Care to join me in my gratitude challenge? What five things are you thankful for today?

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