{"id":974,"date":"2019-05-11T21:37:11","date_gmt":"2019-05-12T04:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/?p=974"},"modified":"2019-05-11T21:37:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-12T04:37:17","slug":"gratitude-journal-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/2019\/05\/11\/gratitude-journal-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Gratitude Journal #15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Apparently, you\ncan train your brain to be happier by keeping a gratitude journal, so I am\ngiving it a go. My goal is post about 100 things I am grateful for over the\ncourse of the year. (This should average out to just a little over 2\/week.)\nHowever, I am going to try and stay away from the standard family\/friends\/pets.\nPlease know I absolutely am grateful for my family, friends, and pets. I would\nnot have made it through the past couple of year without each of them. But if I\nam trying to train myself to be happier, then I want to start recognizing the\nsmaller things in life that I am grateful for.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This has been a busy week. Last Sunday morning, I got on a\ntrain to Vancouver, BC to attend a conference. Our opening event was at the\nVancouver Aquarium, and it was fabulous. I did not get home until around 11p on\nWednesday night. Thursday and Friday were both swamped at work, as I caught up\non everything that had happened while I was away, as well as attended (what\nfelt like) a million meetings about things moving forward. And today (Saturday)\nhas not been a whole lot less busy. But all this really means is there is a lot\nof stuff to be grateful for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gratitude Entry #33 \u2013\nProfessional Development<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I am not young, but I am also a minimum of 20 years away\nfrom retirement. I love the work I do, and I want to keep on doing it, getting\nbetter at it, and maybe (maybe) doing it at a higher level. Not everyone has\nthe chance to attend professional development conferences like the one I just\nspent 4 days at. I know I am lucky in that both that my department can afford\nto send me to a conference and that my Chair is supportive of me going. (In\nfact, he is the reason I even learned this conference existed four years ago, because\nhis wife also attends it.)
\nI had a chance to better connect with colleagues I work with in my college, at\nmy University, and from around the western US and Canada. There were some\namazing speakers, and great sessions. We came away with a lot to think about,\nand ideas for making a difference in our current work lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gratitude Entry #34 \u2013\nComing Home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As much as I enjoyed my conference, and the time spent with\ncolleagues learning new things, coming home is an amazing thing in and of\nitself. No matter how comfortable a hotel bed, it is not my bed. And even if\nthere are two hotel dogs, they are not my dogs. They will let me pet them, but\nthey do not bite my nose or curl up against me as I sleep.
\nThere is something about being away, even for just a few days, that always\nmakes me truly appreciate coming home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Gratitude Entry #35 \u2013\nMassage Therapy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I had to go back and look through my previous entries to\nfind out if I had listed this one before. I have an amazing massage therapist.\nLong ago, I went to a chiropractor for my neck and shoulder pain. My spine has\nnever been the problem. About all chiropractors ever did for me was put me on a\nheated massage bed, and then use ultrasound massage machines on my back. So\nnow, I just go to a massage therapist every few months and pay her to beat me\nup. And I do mean beat me up. I went yesterday. Today my shoulders and neck are\nsore to the touch, but I have better range of motion.
\nMy upper thigh on the leg where I have a bad knee is also letting me know that\nit was abused yesterday, but not once today did my knee threaten to go out on\nme, even while I was mowing the lawn. So no matter the day after soreness, the\nlong term effectiveness is very much worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently, you can train your brain to be happier by keeping a gratitude journal, so I am giving it a go. My goal is post about 100 things I am grateful for over the course of the year. (This should average out to just a little over 2\/week.) However, I am going to try and stay away from the standard family\/friends\/pets. Please know I absolutely am grateful for my family, friends, and pets. I would not have made it through the past couple of year without each of them. But if I am trying to train myself to be happier, then I want to start recognizing the smaller things in life that I am grateful for. This has been a busy week. Last Sunday morning, I got on a train to Vancouver, BC to attend a conference. Our opening event was at the Vancouver Aquarium, and it was fabulous. I did not get home until around 11p on Wednesday night. Thursday and Friday were both swamped at work, as I caught up on everything that had happened while I was away, as well as attended (what felt like) a million meetings about things moving forward. And today (Saturday) has not been a whole lot less busy. But all this really means is there is a lot of stuff to be grateful for. Gratitude Entry #33 \u2013 Professional Development I am not young, but I am also a minimum of 20 years away from retirement. I love the work I do, and I want to keep on doing it, getting better at it, and maybe (maybe) doing it at a higher level. Not everyone has the chance to attend professional development conferences like the one I just spent 4 days at. I know I am lucky in that both that my department can afford to send me to a conference and that my Chair is supportive of me going. (In fact, he is the reason I even learned this conference existed four years ago, because his wife also attends it.) I had a chance to better connect with colleagues I work with in my college, at my University, and from around the western US and Canada. There were some amazing speakers, and great sessions. We came away with a lot to think about, and ideas for making a difference in our current work lives. Gratitude Entry #34 \u2013 Coming Home As much as I enjoyed my conference, and the time spent with colleagues learning new things, coming home is an amazing thing in and of itself. No matter how comfortable a hotel bed, it is not my bed. And even if there are two hotel dogs, they are not my dogs. They will let me pet them, but they do not bite my nose or curl up against me as I sleep. There is something about being away, even for just a few days, that always makes me truly appreciate coming home. Gratitude Entry #35 \u2013 Massage Therapy I had to go back and look through my previous entries to find out if I had listed this one before. I have an amazing massage therapist. Long ago, I went to a chiropractor for my neck and shoulder pain. My spine has never been the problem. About all chiropractors ever did for me was put me on a heated massage bed, and then use ultrasound massage machines on my back. So now, I just go to a massage therapist every few months and pay her to beat me up. And I do mean beat me up. I went yesterday. Today my shoulders and neck are sore to the touch, but I have better range of motion. My upper thigh on the leg where I have a bad knee is also letting me know that it was abused yesterday, but not once today did my knee threaten to go out on me, even while I was mowing the lawn. So no matter the day after soreness, the long term effectiveness is very much worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gratitude"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/20190508_195903-e1578071592976.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p75MAh-fI","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":975,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/974\/revisions\/975"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/erinshanendoah.com\/alienanthros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}