Spreading Gratitude!

Let's make gratitude spread like a virus, after all it is contagious isn't it? When I answered the phone this evening it was my wonderful sister-in-law and of course she asked how I was. I told her that I was grateful. "Did you say grateful?" she asked seeming a bit surprised.

"Yep," I told her, "that's what I said, grateful!" Then she told me rather excitedly that she was grateful too which sparked a whole conversation about why we were feeling such appreciation. 

Well there ya' have it, proof that gratitude is so contagious you can catch it over the phone just by answering "How are you?" with the response "Grateful!" It has taken some practice though. A great idea in theory, it required a little flexing of my thank you muscle to get in shape.  After all, I've been answering that question for over 50 years several times a day most days with the canned response "Fine, thanks." In addition to having to reprogram my mouth to now utter "grateful" in it's place I also found myself a bit intimidated by the notion of sounding a bit weird. Having in the past centered my life around what others might think, I realized that the discomfort I was feeling was residue from how I used to be.  Now, when I say I'm grateful, it may or may not spark a conversation and that's okay because I am truly speaking from my heart. For that I am grateful :-D