GRATITUDE

How is your summer going so far?
Where are you, and what are you doing?
Wherever you are, and whatever you are doing, are you at peace with your choices?

More importantly-
Are you grateful for YOU, and your unique journey, and all the life experience that has gone into creating this person that you are right now?

I have spent the past two months participating in the Oberlin Summer Theater Festival.  The experience was challenging and wonderful, and there is much that could be said about it.  But I want to talk about what happened right at the end of my time in Oberlin.

One of my cast-mates shared with me their perspective on me, my life, and the choices I have made.  It was a very brief exchange that affected me profoundly.  In a moment, I had a very deep understanding and appreciation for ME, my unique life journey, and all of the decisions and choices that have lead to who and where I am now.

It is so easy to compare ourselves to others...
So easy to believe others' opinions and ideas about how we are living our lives...
What we are doing and what we should be doing...


I had a moment of seeing how someone else might view my life, and how they might be inspired by what they see.

But can I be inspired by my own life?  Can I feel gratitude for so much freedom to live my life as I choose?  To make this life a unique expression of my own being and becoming?  Can I see the beauty in all of it?

This is the card I just pulled from the Fifth Tarot to help me put words to what I feel about the past two months, as well as the past in general:

The realization is that it is not so much the outer events in life that lead to a life of joy, but an inner stance of gratitude for the entire journey.  And sometimes, maybe we can't bring ourselves to appreciate ALL OF IT, but there are always specific moments and experiences along the way that we can appreciate.

This summer I have been doing allot of thinking about how to re-inspire myself...how to have more of that awe and wonder that I knew as a child...more of that passion and enthusiasm for life that I used to know...

I am going to start by allowing myself to feel this deep gratitude for all of my life experience.

I invite you to do the same.