Update: We have a winner! Congratulations to Jenni! 🙂

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I believe there are two keys to a happy life: perseverance (thanks, mom!) and practicing gratitude (thanks, Oprah!). These aren’t original thoughts. Oprah is a strong promoter of the power of gratitude, and often recommends people keep gratitude journals. Even Lady Gaga kept a gratitude journal, thanks to Oprah’s suggestion.

It’s something I’ve done too. Once you start this practice, you begin to view things differently. You begin to appreciate all the tiny kindnesses and pleasantries of the day – air conditioning, butterflies, your silly dog chasing his tail, that stranger who held the elevator, etc. “I’m thankful for …” will pop into your head more and more frequently. And on days when you wake up cranktastic, hopefully you will give yourself a few seconds to think of something to be thankful for and it will bring that heart rate back down to a mellow pace.

I will tweet my gratitude daily for the next month. And I’ve added two gratitude journals to the shop. The notebooks are presently available in navy and black, although I’m happy to create custom versions as always upon request.

What are you thankful for? Leave your comment on this post to let me know. One lucky reader will win a 3.5 x 5.5 gratitude journal. Please include an email address so I can let you know you’ve won. The winner will be selected at noon (Dallas, TX time) August 1, 2012, using Random.org. Good luck! (Sorry, international friends, this contest is for U.S. residents only.)

I borrowed this from Pinterest but it didn’t have any attribution. If you know who created it, let me know and I’ll happily update this caption to give credit where credit is due. 🙂