Layers

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in service work with my colleagues yesterday, and for an entertaining movie in "This Is Where I Leave You."

I am also grateful for layers of warm clothes. They were needed yesterday as I helped remove invasive buckthorn from a nature preserve and when I attended my son's football game later in the day. I appreciated the hours of fresh air and being outside, but it was a brisk fall day that required protection against wind, rain, and cold. Layers are the best way to go when you will be both inside and outside and when you aren't sure if it will rain. They are easy to add and subtract as needed.

What about the other layers in our lives? The layers of comfort we feel with the various people we know. Some are mere acquaintances, others we allow to see us and know us on a deeper level. That requires layer removal, which requires time, faith, and a caring heart. I am blessed with people who have helped me peel away layers that were simply weighing me down and holding me back, people who help me shine the light within.

There are layers of recovery and gratitude practice as well. When I started on the journey of recovery, I would have never believed that the layers of pain and self-hatred I had could be sloughed off to reveal a person who actually liked her own reflection in the mirror. I wouldn't have guessed the strength and hope I would be able to tap into with faith in a Higher Power and messages from that Higher Power coming through many wonderful people.

When I begrudgingly began a gratitude journal nearly twenty years ago, I had no idea it would work, and work so incredibly well. The layers of gratitude I know today and can pull from continue to be revealed to me. From the air that I breathe as I begin this day to trusting others deeply enough to freely love them, I am so blessed.

What are layers revealing in your life today? What needs to be added and/or subtracted?

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