I should be out cleaning out the hen house. I also have a long to-do list for the day (and even more for the week!). Yet here I sit writing a blog about gratitude.

It’s the season for that, I guess. The past 3 winters have been exceptionally hard for me and I worked hard in order to survive them. Survival is an accomplishment of which I am quite proud! In the past, it has been very easy for me to look at what I don’t have or what I want to have in my life, instead of the wonderfulness of what I do have. Even before experiencing many losses, this has always been the time of year when I start to feel depressed and stressed. The shorter days have always tended to impact my mood in a negative way, resulting in my feeling less energy, more fatigue, more grumpy and just depressed, drained and tired. It is also the time of year when I stress over family visits (or lack thereof) and the holidays in general.

That said, as I sit here in the midst of November, I am filled with gratitude. My life is full. I have two wonderful children who are thriving. I have a wonderful home and little farm. I have the best friends and community that a person could ever ask for. I could look at all that I’ve lost, and I’ve done a lot of that in the past. But what feels right and good to me rigth now, is to look at what I do have. To focus on joy and contentment. To thrive…even if it is winter time! To know that I have a choice to feel good right now is a liberal and freeing thing for me!

Here’s what I know for sure: My life is blessed. If I had every thing that I want right now, I would just find some new things to want. So I am choosing to be happy right where I am. (I figure wanting or desire is a good thing since even great spiritual leaders of past and present have desires…for greater peace, joy, and/or knowledge, right?) Radical, isn’t it?! I still have things to do, places to go and people to see. And I choose to do so feeling full of gratitude and the knowledge that my life is blessed. And the best part is that I know it is genuine… because both friends and strangers have commented on it. Wanna come with me?

Respectfully submitted,

Pam