Welcome one and all

It’s January 1^st! A day for setting goals and planning out the next year. I love setting goals. I spend much of December thinking of all the things I need to change to become a better person. By the time January rolls around I have a long list of things I can’t wait to start doing. However, accomplishing these goals does not seem to be one of my strong points. I have usually forgotten what I planned to do by February. That is why this year I have only one goal. I think this makes my odds of success much higher. This year my goal is to be more grateful.

Often I find myself focusing on what I don’t have or what is not going right. I want to be someone who focuses on all the wonderful aspects of life. President Thomas S. Monson gave a great talk called “The Divine Gift of Gratitude”. In it he said, “Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love…….My brothers and sisters, to express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven.” What more could you ask for? To touch heaven and feels God’s love, that sounds like a very enticing way to live my life.

So that’s it, an entire year of being grateful. I want to think and record something each day that I am thankful for. Now there may be days that I can’t make it to the computer so I will have to make up for it the next day. The goal is to have 365 things to be thankful for by December 31, 2011. Looking back on all my blessings will hopefully change how I see my life.

So starting off today: #1-Blogs. I haven’t spent much time in the world of blogging, but I think they are really cool. It's a great way to for people to express themselves and stay connected with the people they care about. I love reading my roommate’s blog. She is so witty and it always brings a smile to my face. Plus I love it when she says awesome things about me. I hope this blog will be as uplifting. More than anything it is a way for me to record all the amazing things that I have been blessed with. I don’t think about them as much as I should. But that will be changing over the course of this year; at least that’s the goal.