Laugh, Love and Be Grateful

Lately I find that perhaps because it’s November and the start of the holiday season that I stop periodically throughout the day to just breathe for a moment and to be grateful.  Do you ever take a moment to simply breathe and count your blessings?  It’s not exactly a meditation for you may remember how I fared with Deepak and Oprah awhile back.  Click here!  A full-sitdown meditation session even if it’s only for 20 minutes is still too much for me to handle.  But these itty bitty snapshots of gratitude have been lifesavers lately.  I feel a bit more grounded.  I feel a release of stress and I feel a relaxation and almost like I”m dropping my troubles at the door again. Remember the Trouble Tree?  Click here!

Every morning my son and I walk to his bus.  It’s early and the world is quiet ~ such a magical time for us both!  It’s our together time, before the hustle and bustle of our days begin and I treasure it with all of my heart.  We look up at the sky, notice nature and enjoy each other’s company for a few precious minutes each morning.  Even bundled up against the wind, the rain and the cold weather, I wouldn’t change a thing because as we walk, we talk, we notice the sky, the leaves, the trees and all the bounties that Mother Nature provides.  Sometimes I am even gifted with linking arms with him as we walk (especially when it’s cold out and oh, how I love the cold or the rain for just that reason!).  I sip my coffee as we wait and chat.  Some mornings we share a laugh, sometimes we are simply quiet.  But I always feel we are surrounded by love.  He’s a teenager, but such a loving, typical teenage boy ~ I love his spirit, his kindness and he’s growing up to be a good man.  He’s not a Mama’s boy ~ far from it ~ but he’s a caring, kind and good person who keeps his teenager-ness with all its bells and whistles intact.  But it’s in these mornings, that I see the man he is growing to be and I”m proud to say he’s my son.  And as I walk back down the silent street after the bus has come to take him to school, I notice all the graciousness in my life.  I give thanks for the gifts of the day, I send up my silent please for whatever I may need and I imagine that red carpet ahead, leading me and my family on the path of our highest good.  I bless the world we have made and I look joyfully towards my day.

`Tis the season to be grateful, to appreciate and to expand the blessings that we have been given.  Look around.  Who needs a smile from you?  Who needs a hug?  Who needs a few extra moments in your day?  You have plenty of all ~ why not share?  You know that what you focus on expands, what you give out you receive one hundred fold back in return and what you give out you get!

Since we know all of those little ditties (and surely there are more so please comment with them) then why don’t we make it a daily practice?  Just take a few moments everyday to stop, to be breathe, to be grateful, to count our blessings and to smile.  Imagine how much sweeter the world would be if we could all do this everyday?!

Want to join me? 

Shine On!

xo