Litany of Lucky

Guess what I feel luckiest about?

So lately, given the economy and all manner of things going on in the universe, I have felt an onslaught of complete negativity.

It has not been fun.

I think that, by nature, I am not a negative person. I am pretty 'glass-half-full'. But I am susceptible to the negativity that people feel free to express and vent about.

Understandably, there is fear regarding job security and finances, a person would have to be living a totally isolated existence not to see how tenuous many of our personal, professional and financial situations are. But fearing what may happen in the future only distracts us from the pleasures and the wonders of our life in the moment.

I saw a segment on the news about 'bright siding'. I.e. people who do things in order to bring some cheer and joy to their day.

I am all for it.

I want a shield from the miasma that seems to be floating everywhere.

My job may end tomorrow. The economy may get worse. These things are possibilities. But in the moment, this moment, I am a very lucky and blessed person with many joyful things in my life to celebrate and honor.

With that in mind, I have a new mode of thinking that I am going to try to embrace. I call it 'The Litany of Lucky.'

What is it?

In a moment, when I might be feeling needlessly or irrationally negative or unhappy, I need to take a moment to observe where I am, what I have, and how lucky I am to be where I am in my life.

Right now?

• I am lucky to live in an age where I can communicate so easily with the people I love
• I am lucky to have the education and facility of mind to express myself
• I am lucky to have some lovely gold bangles that my husband bought for me in India
• I am lucky that I have the kind of husband who is sweet enough to think to buy me such lovely bangles

And it goes on and on. You get the idea. Anything can be something that is a blessing.

Maybe it seems silly, like I'm blowing sunshine up my - you know - but I really do think that I'm lucky and I want to embrace all the joys of my life as I live them and not become a victim of the relentless unhappiness in the world.

I know that there are things wrong in the world, but I think that I honor those things more by observing how lucky I am in what is right in my life, than by pretending that any issues I have at the moment stack up at all in the face of other people's very real and very substantial problems.

I am lucky.