If I had to chose one artist, musician that will always bring me to my knees emotionally it would have to be Louis Armstrong; Satchmo himself. I'm sure I've said before that my a Dad loved Louis Armstrong which is where I get my love from. I can still see him singing along to 'What a Wonderful World' and 'Summertime'. Both such classic songs that I hear them frequently. So, there's always a little piece of my Dad whenever and wherever I hear the songs. Such a lovely feeling, and for that I'm grateful. There are many other songs that remind me of him but they aren't in my top ten.
Dicky B and I have an ongoing conversation about who would be in your top ten; we haven't even got close to the why. My top ten of songs is remarkably elastic. How can you choose just ten songs that have had such an impact on you at various stages of your life. You see, each decade of your life will have a top ten so by the time you get to your fifties, which I will be next year, then you have at least 30 top tens. Now try and compile your top ten!!! Each and every song you think of will have an intense memory, either good or bad, happy or sad. Some songs you can't run away from even if you never want to hear them again. These are your ghost songs, the ones you want to stay hidden in the closet.
I'm digressing though, the reason for this blog was writing a list of all the things you have to be grateful for. Music being one of them. I love reading the books Chicken Soup for the Soul. Collections of short stories that have been sent in; stories of people overcoming obstacles of a miriade of causes. Stories that most of us can relate to, but the thing about these stories is that they focus on the positive rather than the negative. They remind us that life is meant to be lived, absorbed, experienced. That we are all here to help each other not beat people up verbally, emotionally and/or physically because they don't fit in with your ideal or the norm that society has dictated to us. Who are we to criticise something that we know nothing about, even when we feel we do. Of course we can't totally understand someone else and their life; we aren't living it. If no one is being hurt, in any shape or form, who are we to try and change them because we feel uncomfortable. Instead we should focus on how positive our own lives are. How lucky we are.
So my task this week is to write a list of one hundred things I'm grateful for. It sounds quite daunting finding a hundred things but I know it can be done with a lot more ease than we think. I'm not talking just the momentous things in your life but the things that we take for granted each and every day; things that many people in the world can only dream of having. Did you know that 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Go onto DoSomething.org and there's a list of 11 facts about global poverty. It's one of the most heartbreaking lists I've ever read.
Fact no.11: The World Food Programme says, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.” Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
How is this right in this day and age where most of us are guilty of leaving food at meal times and throwing good food away uneaten. Nobody should be living in conditions where their basic needs aren't met. Hence writing a list of one hundred things I have to be grateful for. I'm not going to post this list for people to see but I will write it, to keep as a reminder on those days when I'm moaning about the maintenance men not turning up again, or I haven't had time to get my hair cut and coloured, that I haven't seen my children for a few weeks or months.
This isn't negating the issues or traumas, illnesses or grief that we all experience during our lives; losing jobs and homes, emotional and physical breakdowns. We all suffer at some point during our lives, more than once. We will go through tough times again. That's what life is all about. But maybe, just maybe when your down in a slump and rock bottom is feeling pretty hard to deal with, we can look at our list of things to feel grateful for and it will give us the strength to lift ourselves up again and move forward. No matter how slowly. A reminder that we have things to look forward to, people that need us.
And whilst we are on an up and life is good let's stop bemoaning the fact the summer is too hot or too cold, that we've put on weight because we've been eating well. So let's start those lists of the good things in our life. The places we've been to, the music we love, the shows we've seen, the things we love. The positives in our lives.
Dicky B and I have an ongoing conversation about who would be in your top ten; we haven't even got close to the why. My top ten of songs is remarkably elastic. How can you choose just ten songs that have had such an impact on you at various stages of your life. You see, each decade of your life will have a top ten so by the time you get to your fifties, which I will be next year, then you have at least 30 top tens. Now try and compile your top ten!!! Each and every song you think of will have an intense memory, either good or bad, happy or sad. Some songs you can't run away from even if you never want to hear them again. These are your ghost songs, the ones you want to stay hidden in the closet.
I'm digressing though, the reason for this blog was writing a list of all the things you have to be grateful for. Music being one of them. I love reading the books Chicken Soup for the Soul. Collections of short stories that have been sent in; stories of people overcoming obstacles of a miriade of causes. Stories that most of us can relate to, but the thing about these stories is that they focus on the positive rather than the negative. They remind us that life is meant to be lived, absorbed, experienced. That we are all here to help each other not beat people up verbally, emotionally and/or physically because they don't fit in with your ideal or the norm that society has dictated to us. Who are we to criticise something that we know nothing about, even when we feel we do. Of course we can't totally understand someone else and their life; we aren't living it. If no one is being hurt, in any shape or form, who are we to try and change them because we feel uncomfortable. Instead we should focus on how positive our own lives are. How lucky we are.
So my task this week is to write a list of one hundred things I'm grateful for. It sounds quite daunting finding a hundred things but I know it can be done with a lot more ease than we think. I'm not talking just the momentous things in your life but the things that we take for granted each and every day; things that many people in the world can only dream of having. Did you know that 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Go onto DoSomething.org and there's a list of 11 facts about global poverty. It's one of the most heartbreaking lists I've ever read.
Fact no.11: The World Food Programme says, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.” Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
How is this right in this day and age where most of us are guilty of leaving food at meal times and throwing good food away uneaten. Nobody should be living in conditions where their basic needs aren't met. Hence writing a list of one hundred things I have to be grateful for. I'm not going to post this list for people to see but I will write it, to keep as a reminder on those days when I'm moaning about the maintenance men not turning up again, or I haven't had time to get my hair cut and coloured, that I haven't seen my children for a few weeks or months.
This isn't negating the issues or traumas, illnesses or grief that we all experience during our lives; losing jobs and homes, emotional and physical breakdowns. We all suffer at some point during our lives, more than once. We will go through tough times again. That's what life is all about. But maybe, just maybe when your down in a slump and rock bottom is feeling pretty hard to deal with, we can look at our list of things to feel grateful for and it will give us the strength to lift ourselves up again and move forward. No matter how slowly. A reminder that we have things to look forward to, people that need us.
And whilst we are on an up and life is good let's stop bemoaning the fact the summer is too hot or too cold, that we've put on weight because we've been eating well. So let's start those lists of the good things in our life. The places we've been to, the music we love, the shows we've seen, the things we love. The positives in our lives.