Today I am grateful for abundance.  Abundance is so much more than what’s in our bank accounts or the size of the house we have.  It’s more than the cars we drive or the clothes we wear. It’s more than any jewelry we could put on our bodies or any trip we could take.  Abundance is about health, nourishment, nature, security, joy, time, energy, presence, connection, spirit, and love.  These are all things that create genuine abundance and these are the source of true wealth.  These are the things that help us manage and tap into the materials of the world, yes, but we understand those things in the material world are not what make us abundant.  Being surrounded by family and friends and laughter is an unbelievable privilege and measure of what truly matters.  I have people I love and who love me back and that is such a gift.  I have a healthy body and I am able to nourish and strengthen it and I have access to all of the things I listed above.  That is an abundant life. There is nothing to complain about.

Today I am grateful for shifting. It takes an immense amount of work to shift our minds.  We are set in our ways and the ways of others and we operate according to what we know—which comes from what we have been taught and experienced.  In order to open up to other possibilities, it takes a conscious effort and a pointed move in a new direction.  For some people there’s a before and after, like an event occurs that changes our minds so radically that there is no going back to what we knew before.  For others it’s a gradual process, more like an awakening or coming to our senses to understand what’s really around us.  For me, it’s been a combination of both.  I’ve been blessed with moments that have changed me whether it was meeting someone, going somewhere, or opening up to understanding what I was feeling.  And then there are times when it comes to awareness of what I really feel that it has been a longer process because I’m fighting with accepting and understanding what I really feel.  It’s a visceral feeling, like learning to use our senses in a new way.  How cool is it to learn and integrate new information?  I strive to apply those lessons as often as I can.

Today I am grateful for expression—and appreciating the expression of others.  Seeing people in their true element is an amazing thing.  There is a level of vulnerability in sharing who we really are, so finding the security and safety to be who we really are is a gift.  It’s also pretty cool because it’s in the expression of our true selves that we find our people.  When we find what truly resonates with us and we start operating there, people with similar interests and goals come forward and we suddenly find support we didn’t know existed.  Life isn’t meant to be operated on the periphery, dipping our toes in to see who takes us on.  We are meant to whole-heartedly enter the pool with enthusiasm and find the expression of who we are.  That’s the only way to do it.  Don’t take the light we emit for granted.  Love wholly and completely, including loving ourselves exactly as we are. 

Today I am grateful for joy.  I have shared my gratitude for this emotion before, but I really want to express a deeper understanding of this experience.  I struggled for so long to find happiness—somedays I still do.  It felt like something I needed to earn and it felt fleeting at best.  But as we will discuss this week, happiness isn’t necessarily the goal.  Happiness is a guidepost and we know we are fully in our element when we embrace the joy around us.  The truth is joy is an emotion stronger than happiness—it’s an embodiment of who we are and the experiences around us.  Joy is a full body experience whereas happiness tends to be a chemical in the brain.  That can still feel good, but we will always be looking for the next thing—it isn’t lasting.  Joy is a state of being that opens doorways to things and experiences we didn’t realize were available.  Joy is a key, happiness is a window.        

Today I am grateful for understanding safety.  I had a revelation over the last few weeks that I’ve spent the majority of my life looking for safety.  This isn’t to elicit pity, but I was not easily accepted by people—and I can’t pretend to know why.  The reason is irrelevant because this is about the feeling.  I was trained early on to be a people pleaser, to literally hide who I am (shame about by body etc.), and to hold myself back intellectually to make others feel better.  I was still left behind.  So that meant the people who did accept and appreciate me got an extra dose of clinginess for me—admittedly which as probably a lot.  So I’d distance myself from them too when I felt their need for space.  All this time I was looking for an indicator that I was worthy when all I needed to do was believe I was worthy—of the space I took up, of the ideas that wanted to develop, of love.  Those things were the security I truly needed.  I needed to know that my existence was accepted.  And all of that came from understanding that I was safe in myself, safe to accept myself, safe to acknowledge my worth. 

Today I am grateful for authenticity.  This is to piggy back off of safety above.  When we feel safe, we express our true, authentic selves.  The thing is, when we spend the majority of our time dulling the edges and turning down the light of who we are, we dim our existence.  This is a world of full experience and expression—similar to what I mentioned above, we aren’t meant to spend our time playing around the edges, we are meant to go all in.  When we are authentic, we find security in being ourselves and the key is that we have to learn to provide that security for ourselves rather than hope the world provides it.  Life is rich and complex but it is also meant to flow and be carried delicately.  It’s an art to live and to do so authentically makes it that much better.  It’s taking the blinders off and seeing the world in color.  We need to be who we are in order to see what we are meant to see.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.