Gifts & Gratitude
One year ago, I felt lost. I was struggling with roadblocks in my career and various personal attacks directed at my family and friends. One year ago, I was seeking an outlet. My husband’s career switches, my daughter’s anxiety, my aunt’s cancer, my friends’ integrity, and even more friends’ relationship turmoil…all carried a weight of sadness and oppression upon my days. The outlet I stumbled across, one year ago, was the simple act of journaling.
As an English teacher, I write all the time for my students - giving them sentence stems or modeling an essay structure.  I’ve created countless graphic organizers and worksheets to support learning, but the writing is almost always direct and objective.  Rarely, as an adult, did I write for myself…that was of course until about one year ago. Â
When I was a little girl, I loved writing in a diary. I’d find a hiding spot in the corner of my room and write about a secret crush or a classroom party. Then, I would take great care to find the best place to stash my diary so that my nosey brother wouldn’t see the intricate details of my strikingly average life. Over the years, as a grown-up, the idea of writing became a task, a duty, a job requirement. Yet, one year ago, as ideas and emotions were racing through my body at sometimes lightning speed, I was able to find a pen and an old marble notebook. I began my mornings reflecting on quotes and biblical verses in order to calm my mind and heart. I wasn’t worried about spelling or punctuation. I was just letting the pen take hold of my soul and guide me.
As the year progressed, I traded in the marble notebook for a fancy journal with gold-trimmed edging and an elastic string clasp – a birthday gift from my mom. Now, writing has become a therapeutic and liberating gift I have given to myself. And I share my gift with others by taking my journaling into the digital world via my blog survivethriveandfeelalive on Tumblr.com.  I’ve found that sometimes there are things beyond our control, but I’ve also found that I can control my emotions, reactions, and overall aura through the fluid strokes of a pen on crisp white paper. Then the stems of those words sprout into my blog entries. I hope that that my words have brought others comfort and inspiration they way they have done so for me.
This past year has taught me a lot about gifts and gratitude. Sometimes physical gifts can make our day – a new outfit or a bottle of wine. But sometimes you can gift yourself a moment in time, a slice of comfort, some peace of mind. How can you embrace all the gifts in your life? Gratitude. A life of gratitude is a full life. The next time I journal I’ll be reflecting on the following gifts:
(1.) A strength of mine for which I am grateful for is…
(2.) Something money can’t buy that I’m grateful for is…
(3.) Something that comforts me that I’m grateful for is…
(4.) Something that’s funny for which I am grateful for is…
(5.) Something in nature that I’m grateful for is…
(6.) A memory I’m grateful for is…
(7.) Something that constantly changes that I’m grateful for is…
(8.) A challenge I am grateful for is…
(9.) Something interesting, that tests my knowledge and skills, for which I’m grateful for is…
(10.) Something beautiful that I’m grateful for is…
My challenge to you – Can you welcome these ten thoughts/gifts into your heart and mind and take some time to really reflect on them? Can you give an receive gifts with humility and grace? Remember that the greatest gift you can give yourself is to keep gratitude at the forefront of your mind.
