Yes to Gratefulness by Kathi Middleton

this being human is a guest house
every morning a new arrival
a joy, a depression, a meanness
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor

welcome and entertain them all!

be grateful for whoever comes
because each has been sent
as a guide

Lyrics from the song Kaleidoscope

Cold Plays Album, A Head Full of Dreams

This song makes my heart smile!  This year I am upholding my commitment to saying, Yes to Gratefulness.  What am I grateful for? EVERYTHING, including the things that make me hurt, strive, smile, learn, scared, trust and occasionally lust.  In the past I practiced “selective gratefulness”.  I chose to only be grateful the people, places and things that made me feel GREAT! I complained and ran from evertthinhg else.  You can imagine that I missed out on A LOT!  

I am no longer running,  instead I am reminded daily that life is here to teach us and strengthen us to empower one another along the way.  This journey through life is going to present things that hurt and that is OK, don’t run from it.  Other times, life is going to present moments that feel insanely good, don’t run from those either.  Be grateful for it all.    

In the book, “Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person”, Shonda Rhimes shares valuable and intimate personal stories of how saying “Yes” for a year transformed her life.  One of my favorite pieces of wisdom from the book, is when Shonda acknowledges that, Women Can Have It All, Just Not All At the Same Time.  With this understanding, we can then be grateful when things are splendid at home and frantic at our business. Or when a close friendship is going through a rough patch and our health is thriving.  Or when you forget to submit a report at work and your child earned a perfect score on the test that you helped them study for all weekend.  In an ideal world, we would have perfect harmony and balance and all would be well. However, that’s not reality – at least not mine, and thus I chose to be grateful for it all.

I can imagine that someone is reading this and thinking, “This is impossible” or “I have a real life”.   However this is not about saying yes to things that don’t serve anyone or being in denial about real pain and suffering.  This is about stepping out of our comfort zone and finding gratefulness no matter what comes your way.  This is possible by recognizing that any trouble or joy that comes is here to teach us, make us wiser, stronger and grateful.  A few years ago, I begin to say Yes to things that were uncomfortable and the payoff has been invaluable.  The self-assurance, renewed faith, personal insight, relationships, love and gratefulness has changed my life.  When things show up that scare me and I want to run the other way, I talk myself off the ledge by choosing gratefulness and trusting the process.

To all of the bloggers and readers, I would like to express my sincere gratitude.  To express oneself in an attempt to support another is one of the most powerful opportunities that each of us have.  I thank God for allowing us to embark on this "Journey of Yes" together.  Cheers to an Amazing 2016! May all of your best dreams come true! YES, to realizing our dreams and being grateful throughout the journey.

With a heart full of gratefulness
Kathi