Gratitude

I have stumbled upon what I believe may be my new 'Oprah' ... I have watched Katie Couric's new talk show twice this week. Each time, I was lifted up and out of my own thoughts and they were replaced with positive information and inspiration.

Today's show was about how to de-stress your life. I absorbed information this afternoon that has the potential to change the direction of my thoughts.

One of the suggestions was focusing on gratitude. This is nothing new to me. I've heard this before. I try to be grateful and focus on the positive in whatever life hands me. But as I headed off to bed tonight, I thought that perhaps I should get myself back into the habit of writing down that which I am grateful for.

One day blends into the next more often than not. Today was not extraordinary. That is, until I started to think about what I was grateful for. Little things became bigger than they felt when I lived the day. Here are just a few samples of what I am grateful for today:

1. An email from a friend that contained a link to a (dance) video that made my heart happy first thing this morning. I watched this video. Twice. I watched the outtakes. I googled Matt Harding (the person who inspired this video and danced around the world) and I was inspired. Truly inspired. And happy. I didn't write this morning because I was too busy savoring these joyful moments.
2. A change in our daycare schedule provided me with a little break that I needed. Moments within my daycare day provided me with new insight. Outstretched arms, a smile that was just for me, a child accidentally showing me how much he has learned. Many small moments turned a challenging day into a joyful one, when I play it backwards.
3. Coffee with a friend. I find it very, very hard to leave the house. I find it harder to turn down an invitation. Every single time I walk out of our door and enter the real world, I am rewarded. I needed to get out. I didn't want to go out. I'm grateful for an invitation from a friend that put me exactly where I most needed to be.
4. A reprieve in our weather! Our temperatures soared to -25ish degrees today. Not exactly a heat wave, but I'll take it over -45 degrees any day! And tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer.
5. My flyers. They weren't dropped off early enough for me to deliver them before my daycare family arrived. Their delay meant that I could savor the dance video that made #1 of this list. Instead, I delivered them after everyone left for the day and I truly got to savor every last second of our extended sunlight hours! And ... the timing was close to perfect. I finished delivering them just in time to meet my friend who was available to meet for coffee right at about the very same time.

Even when things don't go exactly how we hope or expect ... more often than not, they work out 'just the way they were meant to be'.

Today was one of those days...