Giving Thanks for an Abundant Life
While
I try to practice an attitude of gratitude on a daily basis for the abundance
of good fortune in my life, coming together with family and celebrating the
annual Thanksgiving holiday causes me to reflect more fully on my blessings and
focus on the people and experiences for which I am most thankful.
Everyday
I celebrate having met and married my wonderful husband and soul mate. We appreciate the time we spend together and
we celebrate our individuality and the time we spend pursuing our individual
interests and hobbies. It is a
relationship built on mutual trust, love, appreciation, commitment, acceptance,
and laughter.
I am
thankful that I still have both of my parents in my life. They are healthy,
happy, independent, funny and enjoy every day.
I am
grateful for my good health; that Lasik has given me excellent eyesight; that I
have all of my limbs and they function as intended; that my senses of smell,
taste and hearing are fully functional; that yoga has helped me develop and
maintain flexibility, strength, balance, friendships with positive minded
people, and a focus on living in the present and accepting what is; that my
years in Al-Anon gave me the strength to overcome adversity, to begin my
journey of healing and self discovery, to accept that I have no control over
other people, places and things, and to find hope, acceptance, love, support
and a road map to peace and serenity among people I might otherwise have
thought I had nothing in common.
I am
thankful that I found the capacity to learn from my mistakes, to take ownership
for my actions, to appreciate that I deserve happiness, to celebrate the good
within myself and to give myself a break when I’ve made less than stellar
decisions. Every step I’ve taken or decision I’ve made has helped create the
person I am today.
I
give thanks to all of the people who have walked beside me on my journey, who
reached out a helping hand, who forced me to make my own decisions and make my
own mistakes, those who caused me pain and anguish and those who brought me joy
and made me laugh. I am even grateful
for the young woman at a seminar in Denver 5 years ago who told me I have nice
teeth – for my age.
I am
thankful for wine, crab cakes, asparagus, my furry feline companions, indoor
plumbing, electricity, automobiles, air travel, computers, cell phones, the
Internet, satellites, having been born in the USA, the incomparable experiences
I had living and traveling in Asia and Europe, that I finally decided to
interview for a job with my current employer the 3rd time a
recruiter called, books, homegrown tomatoes, hot showers, cultivating my
garden, classical music, sunsets, watching birds at the feeder, the smell of
rain, the sound of the ocean, and that I live in a little piece of heaven in
the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
But
I have no thanks for sweet potatoes or yams or liver or possums. Or deer. Deer
eat my plants.
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