Thank you for all of the nice feedback on yesterday’s post. I hope you all have seen the results of your kindness, your helpfulness, and your generosity today. Reading so many people’s responses and knowing that so many people shared the post with their friends, family and followers, certainly made me feel more hopeful. Here’s a secret: when I spread a little kindness, I think I get more out of it than the person or people that are the receivers! And that’s why, no matter how craptastical the day is, I try to make it better for someone else.

Yes, it’s a little selfish. Maybe that’s why it doesn’t always work. Some days I’m just in a funk or inside my own head. Or too damn busy. But for the last year or so I’ve deliberately tried to be a kinder me, even when I don’t feel like it.

I’ve also forced myself to be deliberately grateful.

My beautiful gratitude journal made by my very talented friend Mary-Claire

In an effort to stay positive and focused on all the good that’s happening, I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal since the beginning of September and each day, I take a few moments to write down 10 reasons I am grateful. It was another one of my experiments like planting tomatillos or trying a complicated recipe. At first it felt a little silly and forced. But I made myself do it. Two months later, I actually like it. It reminds me of how much is going right, even when so much sounds like it’s going wrong. I track the lovely and nice things people do for me every day. I track the people who make my days better. I track the “tools” that make life better for me. Mostly, I track the things that mean something. If you’re in that kind of funk at the present moment or the “eating season” holidays make you feel blue, why not try it?

So much good happens everyday. But it’s like the comments and reviews on sites like Yelp, Amazon or even GlassDoor: it’s easier to point out the defects, problems and challenges. The things that went wrong—or at least not to your liking. Good is always our expectation. But when you don’t capture it, the good things become a tucked away memory that’s difficult to dredge up when you need it. You might already know that but I’m grateful that I figured that out for myself.

One last thing: I am also very grateful that the weekend is here. It’s time for a little down time. Maybe you’re going to kick back and relax a little like today’s gratuitous dogs of the day:

Gidget and George enjoy snuggling while they watch tv • photo by Bruce