Gratitudes instead of envy

Instead of being envious of other people I need to concentrate on my own life and to be grateful for my own blessings. I am usually a person who lives a lot in gratitude and need to get back to that.
I realised today that my experiences with mental illness and chronic fatigue syndrome can help other people. Many times in my life I have met people who have benefited from my candidness. I'm sure it is true of all of us, that our personal experiences are often helpful to others sharing similar things.
I learnt to be careful what I say and to be more aware of what I am thinking. I needed a reminder on these points. I was telling another friend to be areful that what she says negatively doesn't play out in her life and there I am being reminded of it myself. I am very aware I need to stop focussing on envy and to get focussing on my life in a positive way.
I was waiting awhile for a friend to turn up for coffee at a coffee shop and suddenly remembered that I had put a sketch book and pen in my bag and got it out and started sketching the people and some furniture. It was only a few sketches but I was absolutely amazed that I was sitting sketching in public. I was thinking of a friend from EDM (Everyday Matters) and how she sketches all over the place and I felt inspired to do the same.
I have decided to keep this blog going as I gain confidence to finally do a blog to share with EDM. There is no rush. I have to get a camera and scanner. I may keep this blog going anyway as I love how I feel so private and yet it is so public. It is unlikely anyone will find this blog but I really am enjoying writing it. I thought I'd be all self conscious and edit what I have to say but it's just like my normal journals .....I just write and write. My greatest passion would definitely be the journaling and sharing feelings and thoughts.
I think that's it for today.
It was extremely good meeting up with my new friend. We had so much in common. She has a busy life so it's unlikely we'll be able to catch up often but I will enjoy it when we can.
I've just realised I need to be careful about mentioning other people here as they may not want to be as public as I am. I've just had to edit this.