Working the Holiday

There are many wonderful benefits for working for my employer. Unfortunately, the amount of holidays covered is not one of them. I am finding it difficult to concentrate today knowing much of America has the day off to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, but I am here working. Now before my readers thnk this is some racial slight, keep in mind my employer only offers 6 holidays each year and there are many other holidays that are slighted as well! Oh well, I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. Alas, I am still struggling with my gratitude.

Try a Little Gratitude (or Love Thy Job)

I had the chance to talk about gratitude and happiness this week in the support group I run for chronic pain patients. We were planning out some topic ideas for future sessions and I shared my goal for 2009 was "gratitude." It reminded me that gratitude is something I need to practice regularly in the hopes of making it a habit. I've blogged before about the relationship between gratitude and happiness. Let the gratitude begin...

With so many people losing their jobs of late, I have been trying to appreciate the fact that I even have a job. In fact, I am grateful for so many aspects of my work. The following represent, in no particular order, the top ten reasons I love my job:

1. I get to help people, most of which are actually motivated to put in effort, find ways to live better and feel better.
2. I make good money, have great benefits, including plenty of paid time off to enjoy life outside of work.
3. I get paid to do things that are also good for me, like practice and model deep relaxation or meditation techniques.
4. I get to work in a huge hospital close to many resources, and this has even come in handy for my own medical conditions. Come on, who can say they broke an ankle or passed a kidney stone without missing any work!
5. It may be small but I have my own office even though most people in my department have to share space while we await new office space.
6. I get to go to work and every day there are colleagues and friends who are pleasant, friendly, and helpful.
7. I get to work independently, making my own decisions on scheduling, treatment planning, program development.
8. Did I mention the benefits? Over a month of paid leave each year. And being unionized, raises and bonuses annually!
9. If I do not go in to work, people genuinely miss my presence!
10. We only have one staff meeting a month.

Well, these are a few of the things about my job for which I am thankful. My goal is to appreciate my blessings and having a good rewarding job is certainly a major blessing I don't usually appreciate as much as I would like!

2008 in Perspective

My Goal for 2008:

happiness
n. joy, the emotion of being happy.
n. Good luck; good fortune; prosperity.
n. An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind; the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended enjoyment; the state of being happy; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness.
n. Fortuitous elegance; unstudied grace; — used especially of language.

I noticed that I had a goal on my blog for 2008 and this lead me to think what my new goal would be. On one hand, I don't think I fully achieved my 2008 goal so i could just continue the same goal forward to 2009. However, I think a new year is a good time to reassess needs and goals, and I decided to refocus my goal this year. My new goal for 2009 is more along the lines of gratitude, appreciation, and thankfulness. If you have read some of my blog posts from November you might notice these goals do align. I suspect being more in the moment of my life and appreciating the good already in my life is a better path to achieve some measure of happiness that sticks!

I hope to do some focused posting on some of the things I am grateful for in the future. Watch for it!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I am full of turkey and pumpkin pie but I wanted to take some time to review what I am thankful for today. Did you ever have to relate what you were thankful for at Thanksgiving dinner? I am not sure when gratitude took a back seat to turkey but for me a goal I am working on is cultivating thankfulness back into my life so let's start today.

I am thankful for my family. My smart and beautiful husband. My bright sweet Emma and my energetic loving Sofia. My helpful and supportive parents.

I am thankful for my job that allows me to help others and support my family with what we need to survive and to thrive.

I am thankful for my many wonderful friends who seem to understand I love them more than I ever say or show.

I am thankful for a comfortable home which helps me feel safe and at peace most days.

I am thankful for the beauty in our environment, the sky, the mountains, the ocean. The earth is a beautiful place.

I am thankful for books. I love them all. They have given me much joy for many years.

I am thankful for Jeopardy. I know it is silly but it makes me feel good when I know more questions than the contestants!

I am thankful for the invention of Ipods, my treo, podcasts, and other technology.

I am thankful for sleep and plan to enjoy that activity right now. Good night!

Gratitude

I have been thinking about gratitude. There appears to be more and more research showing that being grateful or counting your blessings is a more direct path to happiness. I have read the studies and perhaps I'll try to summarize it in a blog later but today I was noticing a more real life observation.

I noticed today that every day I drive my car and I frequently think, "I love my car!" Now, I do love my car but I don't usually have this recurrent thought on a daily basis. However, since I blogged about my car, this fact has changed. Counting the things I love about my car has cemented and perhaps magnified my auto love.

I am thinking about experimenting with this experience and doing some future blogs about feelings I'd like to cultivate. I will share the outcome in time. But perhaps you might like to try this yourself. Blog about someone you should appreciate more like a friend, relative, a husband. Blog about your stressful job. Remind yourself about the good things around you rather than your complaints.