Gratitude.
That word sums up my year up to this very point. My present.
Today I am grateful that I have built up enough stamina and physical energy to go out tonight to welcome in the New Year. In fact I am excited about the prospect rather than secretly worrying if I can make it through without the battery draining. Yes I am pretty darn grateful for that feeling alone.
But more than that, 2014 will go down as the year that I finally got it, this gratitude business. I might have heard the words before but they must have bounced off me and onto someone else ready to receive them.
Now it’s a regular practice.
I am sure you have all heard of the “Grateful List”. Writing down or saying 5-10 things you feel grateful for in the day. I am not sure where this wisdom originated but my particular teacher in this case was Deepak Chopra. He was the one whose words got through to me. I started practising this at the end of 2013 and consistently in 2014. At the beginning it was difficult to find things to be grateful for. Especially as I was looking at if not focussing on what I didn’t have in my life.
But when I realised, thanks to Deepak, I could start at the most simplest level – being grateful for being able to breathe in and out, having a comfortable and safe home, having love in my life – it clicked into place. After a while I didn’t need to do a list anymore, it was just there, an innate feeling.
Looking back I realise that I have been strengthened by the gratitude I feel and am thankful for the lessons and experiences that have come my way (no I will spare you the actual list) that have provided more opportunities to be grateful through both pleasant and equally unpleasant surprises.
And of course I am grateful beyond measure for the chance to follow my dream.
So thank you 2014. And 2015, I look forward to working with you.
Happy New Year!
Writing and M.E. 