Earlier this summer I started a project where we wrote down each night what we were grateful for. The written project only lasted one night, but the gratefulness has continued.
Last night as we were saying our bedtime prayers I realized that our evening prayers always start out with, “Thank you God for…”
There is something so powerful, something so humble about being grateful. One of my friends recently said, “When we are grateful there is no room for anger.” So true!
It is impossible to be grateful and be angry at the same time. It is impossible to be grateful and feel entitled in the same moment.
This spring we went through a huge growth period with our family business. Everything we had worked for, everything that every member in our immediate family had sacrificed for over the last 5 years was being undermined. Someone outside of our family who was involved at that time was choosing a path of entitlement, verses gratitude. You could hear it in their words and read it in the e-mails and know it by the actions going on behind the scenes. Their gratefulness for the opportunity was gone, replaced with a sense that everything in life should be free and deserved. It was interesting to see that when gratefulness exited how quickly other things came to the surface.
Throughout this process I shed many tears (ok buckets full!) I had my moments of anger, my moments of despair and moments of pure shock. Some days I felt like it was ripping me apart. But I also knew that there was a greater lesson. I knew that I had to approach it with grace and gratitude. Everyday I told myself, there will be something good of this, there is a lesson to be learned.
One morning I awoke with a light heart. I figured it out. Celebrate! Be grateful! To be grateful for what we had, the path we had been on and to be grateful for whatever came of it.
So we held a party and thanked everyone for being a part of our journey. Afterall, it is because of everyone who had supported us that our business was thriving. It was because of all of the amazing families involved.
The support was overwhelming! People in the community came out in addition to our families. The party truly became a celebration of gratitude.
Months later our business has changed, we have changed. Our business is not the same size as it used to be. Our income is much less. Some of the families involved have changed, but so have we – we are having the greatest summer of our lives. How? I figured out the bigger lesson. I can choose gratefulness. I can choose to act from a place of love. I can choose to see the beauty around me, to find that silver lining. I can choose to have a grateful heart.
Everyday I wake up thinking I am the luckiest person in the world. I have 2 amazing boys that I love to the moon and back a hundred times! I have a husband who is my best friend whom we run to the post office together and other errands just because we love each other’s company! I live on a street I love. It feels like America in the 1950’s. Trees shade the lawns where neighbors talk and laugh and kids play. The bike path next to our home provides hours of exploration for my little “Bear Grylls” boys. They pull on their boots and brave the stream with all of its cattails. : )
I am grateful to be surrounded by such incredible people in my life, both family and friends. I have an amazing family~ We recently returned from 2 family reunions that were full of laughter and fun. It was so fun to hear our boys laugh and shout with their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas. You really cannot put into words what it means to me as a parent to see my kids having fun and feeling the love of family.
When I start thinking of all of the amazing things in my life I am at peace. I have everything I need. I have roof over my head, food in my belly, a backyard for my kids, a violin that sounds like dark chocolate, a bed to sleep on, plus a host of other things. But what I am most grateful for is that I have today. Each day that I am here on earth is another day to choose to live in joy, to choose to be thankful, to choose to sit down and play a game with my kids. A day to rejoice that the sun always shines, even when covered with clouds. A day to rejoice that there is grass for my feet to walk on and trees to provide shade. A day to learn something new. A day to nourish my primary food.
What I have gained by learning to become a health coach is that it is not even so much about what you eat, as to how you live. Our primary food is what we surround ourselves with everyday – our relationships, our spirituality, our work, our play, our passion for life. The whole mind, body, spirit thing. What we feed our soul, feeds our life. Food nourishes our body, but our thoughts and feelings nourish our soul.
At my core I have always known the importance of our daily lives and our thoughts. It is exactly why I launched Nourishing Souls Publishing years ago, it is exactly what led me to author the book i love me!. I could see how important it was for my kids to feel that they have potential and more importantly to be grateful for that potential. I wanted other kids to know that they could do anything they put their mind to. To think thoughts that nourished their soul and to be grateful for the good in their lives.
It is afterall what is inside that counts. Give your kids food and toys when they are upset and you just taught them that what matters (or makes a difference) is the outside world. Hug them when they are upset and ask them to think of something they are grateful for and you just gave them the world.
Wishing you days filled with peace and joy~
~Summer Joy
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