Last night around one in the morning we had an earthquake. It was only a 4.5 but it originated just a couple miles away.
I woke up and I was very disoriented. At first I thought I was still dreaming. The rolling feeling was gone before I understood what was happening. I got up to check on Z. She was awake but she didn't realize that we had had an earthquake.
Well I had a hard time falling back to sleep and this morning I could hardly pick my head up off the pillow. So I made myself a double dose of java for breakfast.
Now I am feeling quite energetic and thinking how I might make my own version of the Thanksgiving Tree from Nina's blog.
On Z's third birthday we came up with two prayers to add at the night. After her regular prayer asking God to bless her loved ones I say a prayer thanking God for Z and for keeping us safe and giving us a good day or at least the chance to learn something on a "bad" day. Then Z and Pere say a prayer first thanking God for the "basics", "the hosue in which we live, the bed in which we sleep, the clothes we wear and the food we eat" and then they each add what they are speciically grateful for for that day.
I know there have been a lot of studies showing how people have better mental and even physical health when they practice daily gratitude. Plus I just feel like it is the proper attitude to have.
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9 comments:
We haven't done any sort of prayer at night (prayer smacking too much of Christianity for my dh) up till now. It is interesting to read that you started the gratitude approach when Z was 3. (perhaps it's not too late for us). Thanks for the inspiration.
That's scary! I'm glad you are alright:0
I totally agree with acknowledging blessings daily,it really helps put things into perspective:)
We just introduced the idea of God and religion to Sophia (she just turned 3 a bit ago), and she is very quick to pick it up. We try and teach her to be grateful for what she has and to be giving to those who are not as fortunate. She took very well to this too and even picked out some toys she wanted to give to a little girl that didn't have any toys and insisted we go give them that day (we did). Earthquakes... always a bit of an adrenaline rush. At least it was a "little" one and not another Northridge.
Goodness! That sounds scary. Violet is very private when it comes to prayer, but since turning 4 Victoria asks me to pray with her at bedtime if I forget.
I'm glad the earthquake wasn't serious.
Like Violet, my Rose is very private about prayer so although we have our own version of "now I lay me down" that we say together, I leave her alone with her own bedtime - or anytime - praying.
Before I "got religion", I used to like the idea of daily gratitude - an idea I picked up from Oprah. Every day we would think of three things we were grateful for, no matter what difficult things had happened. It really made a difference to the way we viewed our days.
I meant to add, Studies Have Shown that people who pray daily in some form or another actually live longer, more healthy lives.
We don't do prayer here, but we are very big on gratitude here.
We thank the farmers for our food,
people we deal with for whatever service they provide us and each other every day.It is a huge part of how we raise P.
I am grateful you were not hurt in the earthquake. :-)
Nina - not only is it not too late but if Z is any indication you will be at it for a long time *wink*
O's mom - the earthquake was not a big deal, Thank Goodness.
Daphne - Thanks for posting. Nice to meet you. I will be checking out your blog. Sophia sounds like a dear.
Shaun - We wanted to do those prayers with her because she has a "gratitude issue" that we hoped to work on together with the prayers. I think it has gotten better.
Patience - I really believe that one reason I am such a happy person is because I can really see how grateful I should be.
Kate - Thank you. I'm definitely on board with thanking the actual people. Some of the things we are gratful for at night is Pere making it home from work without getting into an accident. Whether it is to a diety or just to the world in general I like to say thanks for the good things in my life, ya'know?
We made a Thanksgiving tree a couple of years ago and it was really wonderful! I had forgotten - thanks for reminding me ;-) I'll need some supplies!
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