Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for safe travels to and from Sam's wrestling tournament and that he got his first-ever varsity match. It was a 3-1 victory. I am grateful for FaceTime connections with our grandson Aaron. I am also grateful for the local eating establishments we enjoy in our community and each and every conversation I get to have with fellow BC patients.  If you were among family and friends who received our holiday greetings this year, this is a repeat, but fitting for the last day of 2017. A poem that sums up the past year, more rife with sadness and difficulties than some years, but still plenty of hope and energy to move us into 2018. Limitless Gifts can be limitless in daily life; if our eyes, minds, and hearts are open and we slow down long enough to notice. Challenges can also be limitless, those we take on voluntarily and those doled out by life. Gifts can be challenging, and challenges can bring gifts. It starts and ends with our intake and outlook. ...

Today I am grateful for time to walk and peruse in climate controlled environs with my husband Darcy, and that he also did the driving yesterday. I am also grateful for the perspective my son Sam has on things ranging from eating to wrestling. This quote caught my eye and my grateful heart recently: "This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before."   (Maya Angelou) The same quote was highlighted in this post  from nearly two years ago.  It is such a profound quote though, that it is worthy of a revisit and further writing contemplation. December 30, 2017 A.D. will never occur again. The 24 hours, 1440 minutes, and 86,400 seconds that comprise this day will pass by only once. So what?   or   SO, WHAT will I make of it? We have a choice every day, every waking minute really. I have spent many days of my life absorbed in worries, fears, selfish thinking, unreasonable expectations. I have wasted a lot of moments there. Living gratefully give...

Today I am grateful for a visit with my brother, sister-in-law, niece, her husband and their little daughter Romi. It was our first chance to meet Romi and what a happy, curious one she is. I am also grateful for my sister's recipes and a visit with my friend Betsy and her daughter. A couple days ago I was glad to see all of these lights lit up on our modem: Especially the last green light, which is for our internet connection. We were without internet for three days. In the whole scheme of things, it wasn't too rough until Darcy needed to go back to work in his home office. Oh how we have come to rely on access to technology.  Sometimes it is a little frightening to me how much business, both personal and job, is conducted over internet and wireless connections.  In ways, it was nice to have limited access to internet on our computer. It led me to make other decisions on what to do with my time. With our phones, I was able to get done those things that were most ...

Today I am grateful for phone conversations and blog comments that remind me that my writing endeavors make a difference. I am also grateful for laughs shared with Darcy at an entertaining movie. On Tuesday, this was my view mid-morning: One of a pair of sundogs. A visual treat that we don't see often. My memory says we usually see them when it is bitterly cold. Compensation for the bone-chilling temperatures I guess. A little research tells me that they can happen anytime, anywhere. They involve ice crystals, come in pairs, are in the halo family, and are also called parhelions.  They tend to form when the sun is closer to the horizon.  I do like to get a little additional information on things I don't fully understand. But that doesn't mean I think I will come to a full understanding. I just like to keep learning. And relearning.  I also like to just keep enjoying what nature provides us. The cold goes through me more harshly as I get older, but I still...

Today I am grateful for warm clothes to put on to take Oliver out on bitterly cold mornings and for the joy on faces of little kids at an indoor playground. We enjoyed our holiday weekend and the time with family. I appreciate good travel weather and the chance to catch up with our niece Brittany. I am thankful to my sister Zita and her husband Randy for hosting our large gathering on Saturday. It is always meaningful to me to spend time with my siblings and their families, and I appreciate that Mom was feeling up to the event as well. I also give thanks for FaceTime which allowed us to connect with one grandson and the time we spent with our other grandson in person. Our own immediate family is spread out more and growing, but doing well overall. I enjoyed a game of Yahtzee and later a game of Phase 10 with my boys on a quiet holiday all cozy and well-fed in our well-heated home. I give thanks for phone conversations with siblings across the miles. The gratitude flowed in many w...

Today I am grateful for the daily challenge and charge of staying present and living gratefully. Practice makes progress possible. I am also grateful for coffee to pour and share with my husband Darcy. Life's simple pleasures and most meaningful relationships together. On again, off again sums up today's thoughts on light and dark. On again, off again can be troublesome and frustrating when it comes to things like relationships, rain at softball games, and Wi-Fi or internet connections However, it is pretty much the flow of things when it comes to nature's light and dark. On again, off again. Day, night. Summer, winter. Birth, death. When it comes to our own human light and dark, we control the on/off switch only some. Life will bring us much that we don't ask for or expect or wish to happen. Some of those are destined to become our greatest gifts while others become our most tremendous challenges. Yet, some of the light and dark in our lives is within our con...

Today I am grateful for my friends in the Hastings Breast Cancer Support Group and the years of survivorship that we have among us. I am also grateful for the changing seasons. Today is the winter solstice. The shortest day of the year for those of us north of the equator is here. Our planet Earth revolves around the run on a titled axis, so this time of the year we get less exposure to the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, while the Southern Hemisphere gets more. Just to ponder the magnitude of Earth, the sun, our solar system. Just to consider how this spinning and orbiting all work. These alone remind me of our humble insignificance in it all, but also of our significant role in the time we get to exist in human form. How can I make a difference today? I have always enjoyed the changing seasons. I appreciate living where we get the full gamut of weather. I can say that I am ready for the light to start building back up again. Nature's light will grow in the coming months....