Albicocca – Mirella's Way

For many people, the New Year is a time for reflection and making resolutions.

Recently, I talked with my brother about gratitude. On a daily basis, my thoughts are usually focused on what I want or need to do. Planning actions that help achieve goals is important. But I’ve realised that I devote much less time to practising gratitude.

That’s why I decided to pause and look back at the past year — to write down what good things happened and what I feel grateful for.

Something interesting happened during this process.
As soon as I started thinking about what had happened, my mind immediately jumped to the next step: what should I do now? I couldn’t simply stay with the thought that something had happened — my brain was instantly shifting into action mode.
Maybe that’s my goal-oriented mindset. Or maybe you feel the same?

Only when I managed to truly quiet my mind — meditation always helps me with that — did I sit down and write my gratitude list. It turned out to be surprisingly long. Many things appeared on it: big ones, ongoing and hopefully lasting for a long time, as well as small, everyday moments.

I also have one New Year’s intention: to practise gratitude every day.
Introducing positive habits like this isn’t always easy, but it helps cultivate mindfulness and gently brings attention back to what truly matters.

And even though I welcomed the New Year with the flu, I can still find reasons to be grateful.
Right now, for example — my partner has just brought me a cup of tea. ☺️

It’s the small, everyday things that make life more pleasant — and those are exactly the things worth being grateful for.