Tuesday, 23rd August. That's the day Sarah posted a wonderful piece about Eeyore and Piglet.

The sensational list of contributions from Moodscopers that followed made great reading, and how lovely that the trigger of Tigger and friends provoked such a reaction. I've just read through them once more, and how good did that make me feel. I bet I'm not the only one.

My friend Gilly (say it with a hard 'g' and it sounds less odd) said he recounted three things to be grateful for so often it had become a habit. He did it at the end of the day, just before he went to sleep. It's proved the perfect antidote to his anxiety of which he's seen no evidence for several years now.

The other thing that struck me about the comments that followed Sarah's piece was our greater willingness to share the positive stuff we feel. (Of course, it's just as valid to share the stuff we're feeling that ain't so great, and it's taken me a few years to acknowledge that's ok too.)

I know it's a generalisation but I think us men are particularly good at retreating into ourselves when feeling blue – wanting to figure it all out ourselves. Personally, I'm about as good as synchronised swimming while baking a soufflé as I am at sussing out anything that's going on in my head without interaction, so when I'm slinking off into my own little world I'm grateful for people reaching in to help me re-engage.

So today I'm grateful to my friend Debbie who's just invited me to dinner knowing where my head's at and suggesting 'quiet nights at home aren't always the best idea, particularly on a Friday'. And to my stepsister's daughter Lucy, who brought a tear to my eye by holding my gaze and telling me something I never knew. That she, her brother and sister had always thought of me fondly as Uncle Mark.

Finally, I'm grateful to Sarah and all you Moodscopers who posted your 'things to be thankful for'. Your amazing contributions are there for each and everyone of us to read, whenever we want or feel the need.