I’m gonna try something new today.

I’m gonna try something new every day for the next year, actually.

I’m calling it “My Daily Gratitude.”

One of my core beliefs is that thankfulness always creates more thankfulness. The more I stop to take note of the things I am grateful for in life, the more things I am likely to find to be grateful for in the future.

It’s not that gratitude ever magically wipes way life’s challenges, failures, or pains. It’s more a theory that each and every day we have far more to be grateful for than we ever consciously realize. Even when things are going horribly wrong…even when the macro-level events of life are out of control…there are smaller miracles, moments of beauty, and connections with people that can bring incredible depth and purpose to life, sometimes with surprising power.

The Buddhists call this “mindfulness.” Jesus spoke of it, when he encouraged us to “consider the lilies of the field.” (ie, don’t just think about them, be grateful for what their beauty teaches us…)

So, each and every day for the next year, I’m gonna attempt to list a “Daily Gratitude.”

Daily Gratitude #1: Fresh Blueberries
I’ve been eating blueberries in my oatmeal every morning for about the past eight months. I cook the oatmeal in apple juice, and mix in a little more than a cup of the fruit. The taste is unbelievably sweet…like a blueberry muffin in a bowl.

But, man, are fresh blueberries amazing. When they’re fresh, mixed in the oatmeal, they have this incredible juicy warmth, but the skin it taught and sometimes they pop right in your mouth. Wow.

What a gift each morning…what a gift.

So, today, I am thankful for fresh blueberries.

(During this year, my goal is to find something new to be thankful for every single day, and to add that thanksgiving as a blog entry, under the title “My Daily Gratitude.” I started this kick back around Thanksgiving, and it’s already resulted in a favorite new song of mine. The goal of this ongoing spiritual exercise is to see if doing such a thing might inspire even more gratitude within me, and to foster general awareness of life on a deeper level.)