Birth-Day Gratitude

Yesterday was January 7, 2010. Just another day, right? 2nd Thursday of a new decade. Special day? Yep. My birthday was yesterday. I turned 48. As I sit here in Starbucks writing this post, I am thinking about birthdays - parties, presents, cards, cakes, party hats, balloons and the like usually come to mind. What if we celebrate birth-day instead of birthday? I was and am thinking about my 48 years of being a living, breathing organism on Earth and I can choose the experiences I want, I can choose the people I want to surround myself with. Being given this tremendous gift of life is amazing and when I think about it, I am so grateful to be alive, to be healthy, to have so much abundance and prosperity in my life, to be able to do what I want for a career - ACT!, to be surrounded by wonderful relatives and friends, to be married to my best friend, to have a great dog, have opportunities for personal and professional growth, have financial resources, a great car, a great home, and the list goes on and on.

While my birth-day got me to thinking about gratitude, it doesn't stop with my birthday. I write in a journal day - I write what is called morning pages - 3 pages of free form writing that you do in the morning before you start the day. I decided to incorporate a list of 5 things I am grateful for daily - sometimes the list is longer, sometimes it's shorter. In addition, I incorporate be gratitude into my daily affirmations.

Gratitude is an uplifting experience - you can feel it physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. How can you feel gratitude? Go into a quiet place and light a candle or burn incense and just breathe, focus on your breathing, be present with your breath, just be. That is gratitude.