Sixth Sense of Gratitude

6) Today I am grateful that I live five minutes from our temple. I went this morning and had to wait about 20 minutes to get in to do initiatory work. I am grateful that so many people were at the temple today that I had to wait.

I am grateful for the names on the cards I had today who are members of our family. I am grateful that my mom has researched the documentation to prepare these names. I am very grateful that I get to go to do the work without having to do the research.

So I guess you can say, I am grateful to be in the temple where I do work for "dead people". hehehe.

Have a great weekend, my friends!

Kindergarten Lessons

5) Today I am grateful for people who have learned to get along with others. Those who play nice and take turns and share their toys and think of others' feelings and keep the big picture in mind.

At the moment, I am a Council PTA President, which is a leader who has the primary job of training and assisting the local school PTA presidents in our town and the next (10 schools in all) with their jobs. But that is not really what I do with majority of my time. Yes, I train. Yes, I assist. But mostly I hold hands, babysit, referee, and put out fires.

Right now I am working with one school where the president this year and the president from last year are nearly going to blows. Each has their own idea of what is right and how things should be done, but rather than take turns--which we learned in our own kindergarten classes--they are making personal attacks and taking personal offense.

I'd like to think that each woman has the children's best interests at heart, but sadly, it is quickly sliding off that high ground and into the pit of despair. Mud is flinging at everyone in the area.

In light of this dilemma in my life today, I'd like to share one of my favorite essays of all time. I only wish I was wise enough to have written it. It is a Robert Fulghum classic.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten


Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.

These are the things I learned:

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don't hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

Don't take things that aren't yours.

Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live a balanced life.

Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

Remember the little seed in the plastic cup? The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup -- they all die. So do we.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: look.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and sane living.

Think what a better world it would be if we all -- the whole world -- had cookies and milk about 3 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nation and other nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

~ Robert Fulghum ~

Fourth Thanks

4) Today, I am grateful for sidewalks (at least, where we have them in our city) that are cleared of trees and bushes and leaves. I have been trying to walk/jog each morning as I get kids off to school and for 45 minutes or so I exercise all over town. I challenged myself to run on the sidewalks and walk where there is not sidewalk. The only problem is when the little sidewalks we do have are overrun with hedges, bushes, tree limbs or covered in leaves. I hate scratching myself up with front yard foliage just trying to exercise.

It is almost enough to make me want to give up some days. So I am very grateful for people who take care of their yards and think of the sidewalk as their responsibility too.

Month of Gratitude

I heard about a challenge to write this month one thing each day that I am thankful for--either in a blog, in a journal, on a calendar, or on Facebook. Sounds like a good challenge.

Since today is now the 3rd of November, I have three things today that I am grateful for:

1) I am grateful that we are having warm weather in November, even if it only lasts one week. The sunshine makes me attitude so much brighter. I know in some other life, I was a fat, furry cat who lived in a nice window-y house.

2) I am grateful that my kids--this round, at least--have only been sick one day at a time. We haven't had anyone knocked out for a whole week. (*knocking on wood*)

3) I am grateful for real, applicable wisdom that comes from books. I just finished reading The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes by James L. Ferrell. It is a parable in five parts with a myriad of insights into the atonement and how it applies beyond just making the difference for my own sins. I found it worth buying for myself. I've only just checked it out of the library, but there are points in it that I want to study more deeply, highlight and underline. There are so many aspects to the atonement that I cannot yet comprehend. I am blown away by the tiny portion I do understand, but there is so much more.

I'll attempt to keep up this gratitude list for the month. May I suggest you try this too? Already, I can feel my outlook shift: seeking for the good, rather than the annoying or amusing to write about here. Not that annoying or amusing is bad. They have their place, but finding things to be grateful for twists your thinking to a more positive search.

PS--Please go VOTE today! Read about your candidates and vote for the best you can find. [3A) I am grateful I do not have a career in politics.]

It's A Joke, But a Little Too True

I just had a call from a Charity asking me to donate some of my clothes to the starving people throughout the world.

I told them to get lost! Anybody who fits into my clothes isn't starving!!