"I'm so over winter," I have heard from more than one person recently. Wouldn't it be nice to fast forward to Spring about now, and bypass the cold and ice and gray skies? I love the four seasons, and prefer this to Arizona's disorienting two seasons, but enough is enough.

      Well, as your faith leader, I have an antidote for the winter doldrums. It's a spiritual exercise that you can do anytime, but ideally at a time when you are most fed up with the cold.

      It's best to write this out on paper, preferably a legal pad that will allow you to make a long list. If you can get comfortable in your favorite chair, wearing fleece or flannel, and drinking a hot beverage, it's even better. Take advantage of this weather. It won't be here for much longer! (This is called positive thinking, and is not necessarily faith-based!)

      Now, if you're the kind of person that likes numbered lists, write a 1. on the first line. Next to the 1. write the first thing that comes to your mind for which you are grateful. (And it COULD be your mind!) Or the fact that you are inside on this cold day, with a dry roof over your head. And then, write a 2. on the next line, and keep going, until you can't think of anything else.

      I guarantee that your Gratitude List will warm you up, leave you feeling a LOT less whiny, and maybe even wonderful. Now that you have done it on paper, you can try the exercise in your head, at any time when you are feeling irritable, or like life isn't fair, or that God isn't doing a very good job of running the universe. A proper response to God, after completing your list, is a simple "Thank you." It's one of the best prayers there is.