10 Reasons to Be Grateful

[Sigh] So how to be grateful when I’m not . . . grateful?  Oh yes, the outside in approach – you know: changing my behavior can and will change my emotional state, my feelings, the way I see things – outside in.  Simple, right?

Well, maybe.  Let’s see – I know: I’ll do a gratitude list.  I don’t even have to mean it; I just have to do it.  So here goes.

I am grateful for:

1. Silence
2. Alone time
3. Acerbic wits – they make me laugh
4. A self-righteously smug attitude which protects me from all the C.R.A.P.
5. Protestors – love them
6. Bears – they actually get to growl
7. People who hate the very idea of women clergy – without you, who would I feel superior to?
8. Racists – ditto #7
9. Paperwork – it gives my life purpose if not meaning
10. Meetings – what would I do without meetings?

Okay – I don’t want to get carried away, after all.  I am a curmudgeon and I’m in a particularly curmudegonly mood that I don’t want to spoil with too much gratitude, so I think I’ll end it here before I go all mushy and come up with a real list, something that might read:

I am grateful for:

1. Roof overhead
2. Chirping birds
3. Laughter
4. Green
5. Cars and the possibilities of travel
6. My family
7. Electricity
8. Food
9. Hospitality
10. Smiles

Yep – there it is – that warm and fuzzy feeling I so hate.  Darn it, where did my curmudgeon go?  I know I put it somewhere.