Gratitude

When the feelings are down…

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Having spent two scores on Earth, I know from experience that life’s manual is not built to be easy by default. Yes, some may get more free rides than others now and again, but all of us have issues that we are battling with which does seem overwhelming at times.

For days, waves of anger and depression have lurked under the surface of my emotions and I have found myself snapping and breathing fire like a Dragon over minor issues at my family; as a matter of fact, after tossing and turning at night over the issues behind my mood, this morning during our quick prayer session, I had to apologise to my children for my snarling and snapping at them unnecessarily, because I not only have to be accountable for any bad  behaviour on my part and the possibility that I hurt their feelings through my expressions, I equally have to teach them by example.

I could list loads of reasons behind my poor thoughts and depressed feelings at present and choose to marinate in them as well, but going down that track only creates more chaos, ill-feelings within me and most likely won’t resolve my challenges.

Would I wish that everything is in perfect shape? Yes!  Of course. Is it ever going to be perfect? NO! The lesson that I have learnt over time is that by focusing on the small things that are not going as well as one wants, takes away the focus on all  the blessings that we’ve received.

Sometimes we have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and jumpstart our gratefulness. I had to start praising and expressing my gratefulness and not only did I feel a shift in my soul but calming answers dropped into my heart.

The power of praise uplifts and opens up the spirit while the spirit of gratitude takes little and turns into a lot. I enjoy listening to the renditions of “Women of Faith.”

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

There are several gratitude/thankful platforms in the blogosphere that you can tune into and get your ithankful going on. I can’t express in words the enormity of Joy and fulfilment that comes from having a heart of gratitude. Please check out Maria’s blog, Colline’s blog and Bernadette’s for thankful/gratitude challenges.

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It Got Stuck On My Hips…

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Believe me when I tell you that I ate so much humble pie in the earlier years of my marriage, that it’s not a surprise I got a bit more ample and humble over time.

There were so many instances, that I cannot even begin to recount.

At the start of married life, I assumed that my husband was an Almighty Druid who should be able to read my mind; this was regardless of the 6 months compulsory per-marital counseling classes that we were made to attend.

I think that my mind was doodling wedding gowns in the clouds and what not, when they talked about that communication part.

Well, after the lovely wedding and the romantic honeymoon, we got into the real deal. I had never lived with a man prior to that time, I had never had a husband, so it was trial by error 😉

I see things in brilliant and different hues of colours and my husband sees them in grays and black, so, I learnt that men are truly from a different planet; maybe Mars like they said and women in a World of their own. Though I can say that some of my colours are beginning to rub off on him 😉

After several erroneous assumptions, mostly on my part, and several courses of eating humble I-am-sorry pies, I had to re-calibrate as I realized that:

No, my husband is not a mind reader, though it seems that years of being together are now turning him into one.

No, he is not a druid but, like in the first instance, some magic is happening now.

I realized that in order to make it work, our communication had to get better than my sitting on my high horse with my nose stuck up in the air, expecting him to know those things that lay within my heart and mind, and I daresay that after 15 years, I think we are getting somethings right, since we even finish each others sentences these days 🙂

Now, it’s time to shed the pounds of the humble-over-the- years pies that got stuck on my hips.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

The Daily Post Humble Pie

Tell us about a time you found out after the fact that you’d been mistaken and you had to eat a serving of humble pie.

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