Gratitude

Last year I made a pact with myself to find something to be grateful for every day. It was a beautiful and inspiring pact, a great idea, and it really did change the way I viewed life. I found myself looking, really looking, for the things in life to be grateful for and the lessons that could be pulled from every event/conversation/obstacle. Unfortunately, I stopped doing this after one month. I don't know why I stopped and if I look back I'm sure I can find tiny reasons that added up and caused me to stop documenting. But I didn't stop searching, I've never stopped. I have continued to see the blessings and feel gratitude every day of my life. It's just who I am. But I stopped documenting it publicly. Work got in the way. Daily tasks got in the way. Exhaustion got in the way. But I really want to bring this back because I think it's an inspiring way to publicly express my gratitude for the way things fall into place. The cosmic alignment, if you will. The lessons that are everywhere, if you choose to look for them.

The writers whom I most greatly admire are the ones who can find those lessons, those poignant moments, in every day life. I want to give them credit here because I would love it if more people read their words and were inspired by their observations on life. Aidan Donnelley Rowley, Lindsey Mead, Ali Edwards, Elise Blaha. These are just a few of the people whose blogs I read on a daily basis. They write poignantly about life and love and struggles and conflict. They write about finding beauty where none seems to exist. They are positive and upbeat. They look for the best in things. They are honest and authentic. They don't sugarcoat their lives but they try to find the piece of truth in everything they experience. And as my nine-year old niece tells me, "Everything happens for a reason."

Today I am grateful for words. The words we write. The words we read. The thoughts expressed that make us feel less alone, more understood, united. Pat Conroy said it best, "From the beginning, I wrote to explain my own life to myself, and I invited readers who chose to make the journey with me to join me on the high wire." This is my journey.