Can We Be Grateful For Alzheimer's Disease?

I know that sounds like a strange question.  Quite honestly I never thought about gratitude when I was in the middle of dealing with the day to day struggles of Alzheimer's disease. Now that I have some distance from the experience and started to become more grateful about things in general, I have come to appreciate the profound impact gratitude can have.

At the time that I was accompanying Jessie on her journey with Alzheimer's, I seemed to focus more on the challenges and what we as a family were losing. I think that is a normal reaction and one that is experienced by many. I have come, however, to understand the gift of gratitude and believe that if I had identified more with gratitude than lack, loss or difficulties, I may have had more joyful, peaceful moments.

The thing that I am most grateful for as a result of my experience with Alzheimer's disease is the realization that the more I live in the moment, the happier I am. The more we don't live in the moment with Alzheimer's disease the more we will struggle and suffer. Being grateful for the moments is the single most powerful thing that we can do to attract more special moments into our lives.

I just finished watching the movie, The Secret. I had read the book a number of years ago and decided to watch the movie. I found it incredibly powerful as it reminded me about the law of attraction and that what you focus on, is what you manifest more of in your life. If we focus on the negative about Alzheimer's disease, we'll attract more of it. If we focus on the things that we have to be grateful for we change our experience to a more positive one.

Gratitude is not only something you think about, but it's also something that you feel. When I first started to focus on being more grateful in my life, I focused on the thoughts but not the feelings. To truly practice gratitude you need to also feel it. I now spend time in the morning, night and periodically throughout the day thinking and feeling the gratitude. A good trigger for me is when I start to get into a negative thinking or feeling cycle. A few seconds of gratitude and it's amazing how different I can feel. Writing it down, amplifies it even further.  So if you haven't already, why not try a gratitude journal. If you do, you will no doubt be grateful for it!

Listen to what Brene Brown has to say about gratitude and joy.  What are you grateful for today?