Ramblings about Happiness and Gratitude...

In putting my rambling thoughts down in type, my hope is that others can learn from what I have experienced,and learned throughout my life. Tonight was especially filled with learning moments. I was watching the season finale of Oprah's LifeClass Tour. During the show which was about Gratitude, Oprah teamed up with all four teachers—Iyanla Vanzant, Tony Robbins, Bishop T.D. Jakes and Deepak Chopra. The show was on mastering the art of gratitude. I thought I was doing pretty good in this area of my life. Well, as the show continued I could feel a wetness well up in my eyes and later it went further down my cheek. I allowed myself to feel what ever came and then after the show I began what I always do...analyze it. I realized that I had forgotten to be grateful for many things. I was only focusing on those things that were right in front of my face, but what about the memories of good things, relationships, important times in my life? I have been so focused on my aches, pains and trials that I had pushed them to the deep recesses of my brain. The show brought them out and I am so grateful for that. I came to the conclusion that I have to remind myself daily that what I am going through in my life right now does not define me nor my happiness. As I was surfing the web I found a Happiness test through the OWN site. You can find it here:http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Take-the-Happiness-Test-Quiz. I took it and realized that there are areas that I need to work at to improve my score. (As a teacher, I think best in terms of scores...lol.) I then found an article by Dr. Robert Holden titled: "10 Ways to Increase Your Happiness." I found it at Oprah.com. You can bet that I am going to be working on improving my happiness and spending less time focusing on the pain from all my illnesses. I then found quotes about Gratitude and found the following two to be most striking to me.

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In having rambled on long enough, I will close by simply saying "Thank You." Love, Darla