So I wasn't really present on social media yesterday and I'm okay with that. It was a day where I just enjoyed being 'present' and absorbing the funny stories that make up the chapters of our life, but I kept them to myself.
Today, I am catching up on Thankful November for yesterday’s item I am grateful to have in my life:
#3: reflection. Reflecting on the past - memories, decisions, opportunities, relationships, etc. is a wonderful tool. It gives me opportunities to re-experience warm, fuzzy moments as well as contemplate the tough moments, which brings me to today's item of gratitude:
#4 growth. I learned from my McD's years of employment that Ray Kroc (founder of the famous burger franchise) truly believed that 'when you're green you're growing' and life has taught me that we are all 'green' forever and growth in any area of your life is invaluable. Some growth spurts are more difficult than others, but all are necessary to move forward, and as another favorite entrepreneur I know has said, it is ever important to 'keep moving forward' (word credit to Walter Elias Disney). As I have gone through some pretty major health crap in the last couple of years and as my tots are now a pre-teen and teenagers, I can more easily reflect on my growth as a person and a parent and it is pretty amazing to note how that growth has changed my perspective and shifted how I go about my daily living.
Having participated in becoming more aware of my blessings and sharing those blessings for 30 Days of Gratitude for several years on social media now, I decided this morning that I’m changing it up for the remaining 26 days of gratitude in 2014.
I am still going to use Cathy Zielske’s templates to create pages to go into a notebook. Cathy rocks, as does anything she creates…the simplicity and cleanness of her storytelling template is perfect for this type of larger project for me. Simple means I am more likely to stay on top of my game in November.
My vision for this year is to simply capture a moment a day that I am grateful to experience. I’m not looking at the big pictures – faith, family, friends, health, technology, etc., as I have done in the past and as many of us are inclined to appreciate during this month. I want to shift my focus to actually appreciate little moments that I won’t get back … the ones that I may not experience again in quite the same way. I suppose that my gratitude words from yesterday and today … reflection and growth … somewhat spawned this new approach in my head today, and I’m excited to see where it goes. I may not be able to appreciate this venture so much in another month or so, but as years go by and my pre-teen and teen are no longer living under our roof, perhaps going through crazy parenting periods of their own, this perspective will provide laughter, warmth and a good bit of reflection of their own childhood.
(The stories and photos of this project to be shared later.)
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