That gratitude list—a jingle

I’m glad my children quite like me
I’m glad I am a sister and a friend
glad I belong to a troupe and a team
glad I can half-remember a dream

glad of my sing-song whisper
glad of a good-knee day today
glad I’ve sort-of prepared what to say
glad for my portable Bluetooth PA

glad for the variegated vaccines
glad I can be glad about some things
glad I met a pink and yellow nun
picking early olives in the sun

Back view of white-haired woman in pink fleece jacket picking olives off a tree in a suburban street. She is apparently a nun.
Picking early olives in the street

grateful for the glorious young
grateful for green, also for blue
glad my big project is almost done
glad in a funny way we haven’t won

View of blue sea, rocks in foreground, hills in the distance
Sea and sky: the beauty of blue

even a sparrow can be a worry
and who can say they ne regrette rien
so every now and then
I make a little list

of mini-things
and maxi-things that matter
gratis, gratuitous
and worthy of gratitude.

~ Rachel McAlpine

Strongly recommended by happiness researchers as a healthy self-help strategy for happiness: making a daily gratitude list of three things you’re glad about. And maybe add what you did (however small and insignificant) that helped to cause that good thing to happen.

I admit I make a gratitude list only sporadically, say once in a blue moon. But it’s ridiculously easy and it makes sense psychologically. We’re geared to focus on problems because they’re a threat, so we need to fix them or avoid them. That behaviour is only human but it can paint our world dark grey. A gratitude list lets in the light.


Sparrow on a wire beside a notice NO SMOKING
A worried sparrow

11 thoughts on “That gratitude list—a jingle

  1. alison41 says:

    I needed that reminder about my Gratitude journal entries – very sporadic – 3 x daily – let me see where this takes me.I enjoyed your poem

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Thanks, Alison. Actually doing it sporadically is also fine, I believe.

  2. Elizabeth says:

    I love the humor in this jaunty list.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      Thank goodness “glad” and “grateful” have many levels from the profound to the downright silly.

  3. toutparmoi says:

    Timely! I was thinking this morning that I have so many pleasurable interests right now, I need to sort them so I can stop buzzing randomly from one to the other. Like a honey bee with a surfeit of borage flowers. Then that thought made me grateful!

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      How bee-eutiful. I’m enjoying my buzzy little brain. (And yours.)

  4. Anonymous says:

    I love your poem. Motivating. ♥️💐

  5. I love that you added the simple things/events in your gratitude list. I journal (most) every day and at the end of my entry, I always write three things I am grateful right then. It is a wonderful way to start the day.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      That sounds like an excellent routine. I love habits.

  6. bionicOldGuy says:

    I love the poem.
    I have to remember to make a gratitude list more often- great “attitude adjuster”.

    1. Rachel McAlpine says:

      That’s cool.

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