Welcome Guest Blogger: Renee Knowles

What I learned from gratitude journals…
By Renee Knowles


I’ve always felt lucky. Not lucky in the sense that I could buy a lottery ticket and win a million dollars, or hit the jackpot on the slot machine in our local casino. No, I’ve always been lucky in the way people are when they get the dream job they have been wanting or land the contract they desire. And I’ve noticed luck in little ways as well. Maybe I have a run in my hose on the day of a big speech and no nail polish at hand—I will somehow make it through without incident. Or I might just happen to find a twenty dollar bill in my driveway.

Now, some may say these things come about by hard work or coincidence, not luck. But I still live knowing there is a little drop of fairy dust hanging over me.

I did anyway, until I started a gratitude journal early this year. I knew I had much to be grateful for and every day I counted my blessings. I mean I have a wonderful husband, an amazing baby boy, a nice home, supportive family and a writing career, which is really taking off. Yet, I was sure I was missing some things. I was sure I needed to be reminded how great life can be.

But until I began to put the words to paper, to really list every night all the things I was grateful for that day, it never sunk in just how much I had to be thankful for.

What about the great review I received, or the thoughtful gesture of my next door neighbor? Did I really ever stop and notice the beauty of the mountains outside my window, or was I becoming too complacent?

Once I began my journal, I wrote every night. I was trying to be consistent, but it was easy to do. It was easy to think of items to list, of reasons why I was happy. I realized all the things I thought were luck or chance, were perhaps more of a thread of good karma that was wound through the people I knew and opportunities I was presented. Yes, gratitude journals are very “Oprah,” but they are also very enlightening.

The Chinese have a theory: all people are connected by a “red thread.” I began to see this in a new light—all people have an affect on one another and their kindness and thoughtfulness will radiate to others. I started to see this all around me as I wrote my nighttime entry, and this made me begin to bring this karma to others. It made me want to extend thoughtfulness more than ever to my family and friends and even strangers in earnest.

Gratitude journaling has made me appreciate the small things as well as the big. Now I notice the cool breeze on a hot day and a perfectly made hot fudge sundae (cherry on top, please!). I realize in being grateful for the everyday things, I am also more thankful for the fabulous family I have and the fact I do what I enjoy every day—write.

And while I won’t knock a bit of luck now and then, I realize luck is not what I have to be grateful for. Precious moments are. And precious moments are what life is all about.

Hugs,

Renee

Renee Knowles
Sensual, Sassy and Slightly Sinful
Going Topless-"A must read."--5 Stars--Euro-Reviews Out Now! Siren
Courting Trouble--Regency Historical--A Wild Rose Press Bestseller!
Guilty Pleasures--A Siren-Bookstrand Bestseller! Siren
www.reneeknowles.com