The other day, I looked at my hanging planters on my back deck. I had just hung them a few days before, succumbing to peer pressure, I suppose.  Everybody in my new building seems to have something green and beautiful in their private outdoor space.  As the building’s CGO (Chief Gardening Officer) Paula told me when I came home with the pre-wired baskets from Home Depot,  “I knew it was just a matter of time.”

I hadn’t spent as much time as I thought sitting out back, sipping iced tea and reading, but, since I couldn’t take out my garbage or run to my car without seeing my small floral display, I was noticing the flowers were starting to droop. I filled up my new long-spouted green plastic watering can, waited until early evening and gave them a good soaking.

Sure enough, the next day, the two red geranium plants and the yellow moss roses perked up.  They seemed happy. They had revived.

I thought about this. How nice it must be to have such simple needs that a small change can have such a dramatic affect on you; can bring you back to life.  Or, maybe it’s not about having simple needs so much as a question of knowing what affects you, individually, the strongest.

I thought about things that lift my mood or make me feel more alive.  I asked myself what types of things would give me the same feeling a plant would have sitting in the sunshine after getting its roots gently soaked.

Walking away from a source of stress can help — sometimes.  Sometimes, walking away physically actually makes my mental preoccupation stronger.

Taking a shower can often re-set my mood. I think it’s so sensually engaging that it keeps my mind in the present moment.

Laughter and humor often brings me new energy.  Being surprised by something, or taken off guard by a comment or quip, can act as a little reminder that I don’t have everything figured out and that there are opportunities every day to start fresh.

Having a long conversation with Lin or another good friend can definitely uplift my state.  It’s not the content of any particular conversation so much as the feeling that we have a bond.  We know each other very well and accept our differences.

I got to thinking about the different things that revive me and noticed how similar my examples were to my grateful dozen, key themes of things where I notice feeling gratitude naturally.  I think every person should develop their own grateful dozen.  My list includes things like a sense of belonging, or making a discovery in my neighborhood, or beauty.

I guess making a habit of feeling grateful is like getting watered regularly, like getting replenished and revived at the right times.

Remembering to refer back to my Grateful Dozen themes is no small thing.