Today I am grateful for inclusion.  I’m talking about the kind of inclusion that doesn’t revolve around any type of title or belief or appearance or stigma.  This is the kind of inclusion where there are no criteria whatsoever to acceptance—you just ARE. There is no greater feeling than being understood and being able to explore all facets of personality deeply and find connection.  But there are some people in our lives, perhaps we’ve crossed paths before earlier in life, who don’t need any explanation of who we are or what we are—that doesn’t matter.  We could have known versions of each other from long ago and there is no gap in time.  There is no explanation needed about where we are now, the door is just quite literally open.  There is no greater feeling than not having to say a word because it isn’t about who is doing what, it’s about BEING present and aware and simply enjoying the moment.  That type of inclusion is a gift and something I strive to offer people.  If the door is open there are no expectations or qualifications—I’m doing it to learn about you, to understand you because there is no point in learning another fake version of someone.  We don’t need to add names to our lists, we need to add quality to the relationships we have and we do that by simply creating space.  I know it feels wonderful to be on either side of it—to have your intricacies welcomed and to be the one to make people feel welcomed. 

Today I am grateful for creativity. Oh did I open up a can of worms for my brain.  A few weeks ago my sister sent me some pictures from a night she learned how to make wreaths. I fell in love with what she made and it making wreaths was something that had been on my mind for a while but nothing I ever pursued.  When she sent that picture and I told her it was something I would love to do, she invited me to come with her.  I fell in love with it.  This is a side of my creativity I don’t often see because I’m working on so many other things AND I know my personality that once I start something like that it will very easily snowball into something bigger.  Regardless, I agreed to go because I really wanted to learn.  I felt parts of my brain awaken and it was such a needed reminder that we need to spend some time doing things just because we like to do it.  We need to feel our way to a connection with something that we don’t often do but still speaks to us.  There is beauty everywhere and we need to find ways to connect with it as often as possible.  I am so grateful she invited me because of what I got to learn.  Taking a craft and forming a connection is so important because it’s a connection to ourselves through creativity as well as other people and their ideas.  Any way to keep the brain going is key and it opens up new areas to ourselves.  

Today I am grateful for connection.  This is sensitive at the moment because this connection came from totally different places.  As a kid I often hung around my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin.  I met her sister in law (my uncle’s sister) many times as a kid but we never spent a ton of time together.  My Aunt passed about a year ago and my sister spent a lot of time working with her and it developed into a relationship built on old connection as well as the trauma of losing our Aunt.  We learned to make the wreaths mentioned above from her.  It was a beautiful reminder that, while we lost some family, we still have family in unexpected places.  Not only were we dealing with losing an Aunt, she was dealing with losing a sister in law.  The family’s are intertwined and that connection is still there in spite of the loss.  It was wonderful to be able to keep the connection alive while not fixating on the sad parts, to know that we could still find ways to connect and keep traditions alive even if a person was missing from the table.  There are seats we will never be able to fill, pieces of our hearts that feel empty, but there are ways to carry forward and remember the moments and people that matter.  That is how we keep people alive. 

Today I am grateful for connection.  I’m repeating this one because it is connection in a different context.  Relationships become contentious when we aren’t fully honest or open with our communication, that includes the things we hold back about.  Hearing my partner’s honest opinion and concerns (something I’ve asked for for a long time) has been a game changer.  I knew it would be and I am so happy that we’ve gotten to the point where we understand that the next evolution in our relationship is about that type of honesty and open communication.  We recognize what we need and what we want and we have learned how to share that with each other in a new way.  I don’t need to be overbearing or belabor the point and he doesn’t need to keep everything inside.  There is a middle ground and sharing those feelings never should make the other person mad—it’s a way to find out more about who the person is inside.  I’ve been with my husband for 24 years total and we’ve had amazing conversation and communication along the way but there is something so valuable about introducing new facets of our personalities to each other after this much time. There is always something to learn about ourselves and the people around us and it is that flexibility and creativity and understanding of each other that makes for a healthy relationship.  Connection and understanding are key.

Today I am grateful for progress.  I’ve had to refocus a lot of my projects lately.  I tend to start things and get scattered in the wind with what I want to do or I pivot a project and it doesn’t quite work out so I let it sit.  But I’ve gotten better about that over the last few months.  The things I want to do won’t do themselves and taking steps forward has been a solid reminder that the things I was overwhelmed with and the things I wanted to do but felt I couldn’t are achieved by taking a step.  Take one small action in the right direction and it is either one step closer or it is the momentum we needed to get things done.  Sometimes it’s both.  We move forward one step at a time and there are moments we have boosts that push us further down the road—but no matter what the key is the same: we have to put one foot in front of the other and take action.  Change isn’t easy and it doesn’t always look how we thought it would.  So staying the course and making those little baby steps eventually leads to great strides. Eventually we turn around and we don’t see the starting line anymore, we’ve moved beyond what was holding us back and the only way through is forward.  So keep going.  Make progress no matter how small.  And always remember that we will get where we need to be through those small actions every day. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead.