crafting a discipline

"The most important talent may be the talent of practice itself." --Atul Gawande

Hello. This is my first real go at this, and I'm a little nervous, but hopeful. I think that this will be a good spot to work on the daily discipline of not just writing, but writing with the knowledge that someone else might read what I've written...that scary word (for some): audience.
I have no real thought for direction, except to share my little musings and send them out into the world, for whatever that's worth. It may not be worth much, aside from my own catharsis. We shall see.
Today was not a particularly fun day. There were a lot of "have to's" involved: I felt mostly crabby or self-pitying as I drove around in the sunshine, to and from my sunday afternoon commitments. There was little traffic, and I happened to find some great music to listen to on the journey. I am thinking now, as I look back, that it was not such a bad day, after all. I am beginning to think about gratitude.
There may not have been anything about my day to blow my mind with happiness. Or was there? Yes, I had commitments that I didn't particularly relish. But I also had a smooth drive in the golden afternoon, with good tunes, and when I got to the event, they fed me. I had some nice conversations with lovely people. When I got home, I remembered a chocolate bar I'd stashed in my drawer. It was actually a great day, come to think of it.
...Of course, these little details I'm realizing I'm grateful for are nothing in comparison to big things, like the fact that my car works, I have enough food, I even have chocolate. I don't live in Darfur. There is so much to be overwhelmingly grateful for. It's funny how human nature, my nature, tends to push all that aside in favor of obsessing over the slightest wants and whims. But I guess that just comes with the territory of being human.