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

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

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.