How I got to be grateful for some really odd stuff (and other stories from friends)
I am grateful for some really odd stuff. Some things especially about myself which I have come to love.
I am really grateful, for example, that I'm relatively shy when it comes to dating... I wouldn't have met my husband otherwise. We met online our friendship and subsequent relationship was kindled across vast distances and we didn't spend a great deal of time in each others physical company... this was ideal for us... we grew together slowly and deeply. It's an oddity we each have that has been the making of our most precious and joyous marriage. How amazing is that?!
I'm grateful I'm tall I can wear beautiful long dresses and I am always first to spot my friends when meeting up somewhere, plus a quick glance can tell me if a restaurant or cafe is too full.
I'm grateful my mother made me stick at the piano lessons when I was six... I am still a terrible pianist, but I can play well enough to write my own music and then I get to hear people who are far more talented pianists than I am perform it!
I am grateful for Facebook and Twitter. Most people could live without social media.
I could, however the internet generally has brought me some of my strongest and closest friendships. If I had never met some of the folks I have over the years I would never have grown in all the unexpected ways I have done. I have found reserves of kindness and goodwill within the words and gestures of people from all over the world. I have been tested and challenged and have seen others share their brightest and darkest days with me in trust. I feel greatly privileged to be part of the lives of so many other souls out there in the world.
Rainbows always make me grateful!
And that brings me to the second part of my title I'm inviting other people onto these hallowed pages for the month of November. It's a month when many people I know practice gratitude with the USA Thanksgiving day falling in this month and the year feeling like it is drawing to a close it seems an apt time to consider those things which cause us to feel joy, and delight and say thanks.
I have for a while been a long distance friend of a community in London known as New Unity. And during November they are cultivating gratitude with a great hashtag as a reminder...
#ThinkThanks.
Those catchy eleven letters encapsulate an attitude I want to grow myself.
The act of thinking of thanking for many things... small things, large things, things which comfort me, things which scare me and those which force me to change.
And so I've invited other people to share in writing my blog for the rest of the month.
- There are going to be posts for EVEN days only (so there is less pressure on myself!)
- Posters are going to be from my wide circle of RL (real life) and online friends.
- Some may post under their own names others may make anonymous contributions
- Everyone will be talking about thanks/gratitude
- And anything (within reason) goes...
I am incredibly grateful that some friends have already signed up but if you want to have a go yourself please get in touch.
That's all from me for now... I may post alongside others contributions as the month unfolds... As always I look forward to learning lots and having fun doing it!
