Gratitude as the Attitude

Since I have started writing these blogs, every November has been the same - something around being Thankful! This time around, I will continue the tradition but will twist the story a little bit.

If you are reading this blog because of the email that you have received from me, then I know you enough that I would have a story about us and how thankful I am for you. If you have randomly found this blog, then I am thankful of your time for reading it.  I am grateful for ANYONE who has been in my life.  The level of gratitude varies, but at the end of the day, everyone contributed something into my life and into who I am.  Therefore, thank YOU!

And here comes the twist… My gratitude story is not about a human being, it is not about those who deeply shaped me or those who continuously supported me or those who never left my side when I was down.  My story is about a recent addition to our family, my four-legged son, Alpine.

It was not an easy decision to adopt a puppy, especially knowing that the majority of the work would be on me. I had plenty of people questioning the family decision.  For those of you who know me well, those questions did not deter me from the decision of getting a puppy.  Puppies are super adorable (from a distance).  And they require a lot of attention (more than a baby, in my case).   They grow bigger much faster and they learn habits right away.  No wonder a one year old puppy is equivalent to a seven year old kid.  Over the last 5 months, as Alpine pushed me to the edge of my patience (and continues to do so) nonstop, I realized he is actually my trainer.  I kept practicing to stay within my patience and not falling off of that edge.  It is not always easy but practice makes it better!  We are still a work-in-progress but I do believe that we have made big leaps (at least me).  Here is an example: Up until November, whenever Alpine grabbed something that he wasn’t supposed to, it was a chasing game around the table (as humans it is pretty much impossible to win). As I practiced my calm, I realized that if I stop and talk to him gently AND tell him “it is not yours”, he was dropping it on the floor.   He taught me to get to calm from peak anger! That’s when it occurred to me that I am truly thankful for him.  I use my learnings from him at work and with kids AND they work. Alpine still manages to drive me absolutely crazy but as long as I see him as my trainer, that craziness calms down very quickly.

The twist in this story is that I will never know if Alpine knows how thankful I am for him.  Showing thankfulness is beyond giving him some treats.  Therefore all I can do, is acknowledging his help to me and doing my best to act with that thankfulness, making gratitude my attitude.

When it comes to exercise, there are certain moves that can drive us crazy like Alpine.  We do them because they are part of a routine and we know that they get us stronger, but we dread working on them.  Like a pull-up or a push-up… Let’s make them our trainers.  They don’t only train us for strength but they also train us to be persistent.  That is a learning that we can take to any part of our lives.  Most importantly those moves can be your “Alpine”, forcing you to show your thankfulness in your act.

Let’s do some pushups… here is a video for you to use as your guide.  You can modify by being on your knees or even standing by the wall.  Let’s see if you can do all 25 by the end of December!

High Five to all of you for acting with gratitude!

My Trainer and I - 11/30/23

Yes… puppies are cute - 07/13/23