THIS is how you start a day!…

I must admit to you all that the last month I have been a little bit of a “whiney b:+@h”, as you can probably tell from my “wahh wahh” blog posts about my injuries, hehe :-p Well, I have been, I’ll admit…but a girl can change. The other night, while sitting at the top of Elings Park with my ridiculously good-looking husband, watching my most-rad-ever dog run in psycho circles foaming from the mouth (from excitement…not rabies), while the bright orange sun was setting over  Pacific Ocean and the Santa Barbara Mesa….I realized that I had lost my grateful feelings…

I KNOW! HOW could I NOT be grateful in a setting like that?! This chick is CRAZY! But guys…I just let life stuff bog me down, work stuff, relationship stuff, grocery stuff, dishes stuff…etc etc, the list goes on. I was nose to nose with the most ginormous tree ever…and couldn’t see the beautiful fern gully-esque forest around me.

My always-so-brilliant husband reminded me that I haven’t done my “gratitudes” in quite some time, and that maybe I needed to revisit them. He reminded me how hard it is to be anything BUT happy when you are saying “thank you”…or thinking about McMillan…as we both look over at him and he’s drooling and grinning. I smile. It’s true…how can you not be happy when you’re thinking of him…or ANY ONE of the MILLION’S of things in my life I have to be thankful for. As we sat at the top of Elings Park I started listing things I was grateful for. “I’m grateful for this…sitting snuggled up with you, watching our dog run around happy as ever.”  “Babe, how about you take McMill for a walk tomorrow morning, and do your gratitudes? On the way to the end of the road, you list what you’re grateful for right now…on the way back, what you’re grateful for that’s coming INTO your life”.

The next morning, my bed felt EXTRA cozy. The room felt EXTRA cold. I may have even “woke up” and then went back to bed… Nick was smart; he prepared a hot cup of tea for me, ready to go, and lured me to the front door with it…along with McMill.

The Mesa extra foggy…and at 6am, there was no one in site. The only sounds I could hear were that of the fountain in our neighbors yard, and the birds in the trees. I started counting gratitudes…

…the more I listed, the easier it got…before I knew it, I was at the end of the street, and it was time to be thankful for that coming into my life. By the way, this is probably my favorite part of the activity. You say thank you for things you WANT in your life, as if it is already in your life. For example: Thank you for our new Chiropractic Assistant _____, who is SUCH a rock star and creates so much more texture and positive energy in our practice!  (we do not yet have a new CA…follow me? :))

I find that by the time I get to the end of our driveway, I’m not ready to go in, I could sit there and say “thank you’s” all day long… but I continue on up our driveway, up the stairs to my front door…and I am greeted by my hubs…and I’m wearing a huge smile.

It may only be ten minutes of your day…and there may be “stuff” that comes up throughout the day…but from a girl who was hanging on for dear life at the end of her rope…trust me when I say that someway, somehow it gives your more patience, more kindness, and more grace in those tough moments.

THIS is how you start a day, folks…whether those thank you’s come when you’re still lying in bed…or over coffee at your kitchen table…or hell, even when you’re sitting in the bathroom…do what you gotta do…but try to get it done 🙂

Much love,

Jen