Grateful in April.

Grateful in April was drawn to my attention last year by my sister, founder of The Little Sage. It's a global campaign created by social entrepreneur and m.a.d.woman founder, Melina Schamroth.

The basis of Grateful in April is for individuals to focus on the positive aspects of their lives, rather than grumbling about the negatives. The main gist is that by focusing on the good already abundant in your life, this grateful feeling will in turn generate more of the same.

Last year I dabbled in the Grateful in April initiative, however this year I have made a promise to myself to tweet, journal and say aloud what exactly I am grateful for each day. As readers of my blog posts for The Little Sage (and friends alike will know) I have recently been through a massive upheaval in my life. Literally - my life as I have known it for six solid years changed dramatically. Although I generally view this as a positive step in a new chapter of my life, I am human and of course have my down days - particularly as I am finding it hard to find work. Because of this situation, I do find myself often slipping into a negative state of mind. What I love about Grateful in April is that is has forced a shift in my thinking. Rather than mulling over 'why haven't I heard back from XXX?' (NO - I am not signing up to be a phone sex operator) I am actually realising how grateful I am to be in the position of choice. I am grateful that the world is literally my oyster.

This is an initiative that lifts your spirits and truly makes you stop and smell the roses. What I have also been loving is following the #gratefulinapril hashtag on Twitter and genuinely smiling at other people's positivity.

My past Grateful in April tweets include:

I'm grateful my best friend arrives home this week for a week of fun. Yaay!

I'm grateful for seeing my niece with my 95 (almost) year old gran.

I'm grateful for the empty canvas that is currently my life. So many exciting things to come to fruition!

I'm grateful to be able to have a relaxing day - shopping, sushi and magazine reading. Bliss!

I'm grateful for $5 wine. Kinda... maybe not tomorrow.

I'm grateful for the sax solo in Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run'. (I guess that $5 wine kicked in around here)

Today: I am grateful for my neighbour's 5-day long bender/the LOUDEST party in existence. Now I won't feel so bad when I throw a 6-day bender.

So ok... maybe that last one came from a bad place... but you'd be annoyed too if your neighbours SANG KARAOKE TERRIBLY FOR FIVE DAYS STRAIGHT. NOT EVEN A BREAK FROM MORNING TO NIGHT. LITERALLY ALLLLL DAAAAYYYYYY LONNGGGGGG.

Anywayyyy. I digress.

What are you grateful for this April? I am going to ingrain this practice into my daily life (not just April) as it brings such a sense of happiness and gives me the wake up call I need that actually, I've got a pretty great life.

Image - tvtropes.org