A few weekends back, we found ourselves around a campfire with friends, as you do on cool fall weekend nights. While sitting there, someone brought up the word gratitude. Our friend shared that when you try to find gratitude in life it can make you a healthier person because of the happiness and contentment you feel. Since that conversation, I have been thinking a lot about that word and working to make it apart of my day-to-day thoughts.
My personality is one that spends a lot of time internalizing ideas and thoughts. This has a tendency to be a good and bad thing, but the bigger the idea the more time I spend thinking it through. For instance, even the idea of gratitude has been something I have sat on for a few weeks now. As we head into November and toward Thanksgiving, I felt this was a good time to bring this word up. It seemed fitting. I think many times we get caught in the moment, in ourselves, and in what isn’t happening in life that we forget to appreciate what is. I know I do. So, I think being reminded this time of year of the necessity to have a demeanor of thankfulness is very important. I always hold fall as a sacred time of year, since it usually holds major shifts in life. As the cooler winds begin to blow in, I am usually reminded of what really matters.
As the calendar begins to come to a close it feels like the last opportunity to make this year really what you wanted it to be. Kind of like the last hurrah. For instance, I am kicking ass at getting fit right now, because I feel this year left me with little time to do what I had set out to do for myself (remember it is the year of intention for me.) I plan to spend the next few weeks working on being thankful and reminding myself of how this year has changed me, taught me, and left me stronger and with a clearer perspective. I know things don’t always go as expected, but that doesn’t leave any reason not to be thankful, because many times what came about unexpectedly is what makes us all the better and more thankful. Maybe in fact, the unexpected is what can leave us with a feeling of gratitude.
Right now, many things leave me feeling full of thankfulness. Today, I am hoping to inspire myself and and you to think more about the things that are good and perfect right now, rather than what hasn’t come to be or has fallen short of expectation. It is good to expect and desire, but it is equally important to enjoy and be thankful for what is.
I hope you have a good Monday. I am feeling so thankful to begin a new week, to have crisp cool air blowing in, and for the comfort of great friends. It’s the little things in life we must always remember to be thankful for. Make today a good one.
