Gratitude

December 28 – Agradecimiento (Gratitude)
What eleven things were you grateful for in 2011?


For the month of November I participated with hundreds of other yogi's and bloggers in A Month of Gratitude . Each day for the month I listed five things I was grateful for that day. Some days it was a stretch to remember to be grateful. Other days I could have listed 500 reasons. 


At the end of the month I looked back and was surprised that a few items kept popping up over and over.

1.  Laughter -  If you can make me laugh you've won me over. And even in the midst of tears there was a lot of laughter this year. 
2. Yoga - well this one is probably pretty obvious. I've told people that yoga saved my life. Although it sounds quite melodramatic, it's true. I found yoga at a time when I was spiraling down and my life was breaking apart. Yoga helped me find me again.
3. Teaching - when I was younger I thought of becoming a college literature professor. Instead I ended up as a yoga teacher. When I'm in front of a class and I feel that yoga vibe flowing through the room, I know I am where I am supposed to be. 
4. Teachers - I've been blessed to have had many amazing teachers in my life - both yoga and non yoga. This year I needed extra guidance and the perfect teachers entered my life at the perfect time. 
5. Reading - I don't understand when people say they don't like to read. How is that possible? I am usually reading more than one book at a time and I get anxious when I realize my bookshelf is getting low.  This summer I broke down and bought a Kindle and well, it's been pure literary heaven.
6. My family - I have six children and they make me absolutely f'ing nuts at times. But thank God they are all healthy, basically productive members of society. Chauffeuring them and cheering them on at their sports activities takes up a lot of my time, yet it made my gratitude list more than a few times. And my husband who also makes me absolutely f'ing nuts at time. Yet, in all our years together he's never once said 'lose weight', 'get a job', or 'no you can't go and do....'
7. Sun - I need the sun on my face. I need to feel the warmth on my skin. It's why I have such a hard time with the Tennessee rainy, dreary winters here. I try to find a spot for my morning meditations where my face is at least towards the sun while I sit. On my yoga training trips to California I am always the girl who is laying out in the sun with my books while the others are under shade umbrellas and complaining of the heat. I feel like a lizard needing to soak up the warmth while I can.
8. Friends - I'm not the most social person and I almost never have a GNO, but my friends are very special to me. They've stepped up when I needed their help. They've fed, cared for and helped my kids without being asked. And most of all they help me remember we're all in this together. 
9. New opportunities - if ten years ago you'd have told me I'd be teaching yoga, leading trainings and writing for online publications I'd have thought you were nuts. But here I am. My major in college was print communications and I used to write for newspapers and magazines. And then I had kids. And I lost brain cells. And I stopped writing. Eventually a friend encouraged me to give blogging a try, which led to friendships with other bloggers, eventually a guest post to Elephant Journal, and now my very own page on Elephant Journal! 
10. Tea - both iced and hot. This sounds shallow to have made my gratitude list so often, but it's more than just the drink itself. I'm not a coffee drinker, but the reason I go to Starbucks so often is for the experience. When I walk in, people smile at me. They say hi and ask how I'm doing and where I'm teaching. They will either have my iced green tea or hot green tea waiting for me. Sure I can make tea at home and I do quite often. But it's not the same.
11. Internet/Computers/Technology - Technology has made this blog possible. Technology made it possible for me to resume my writing career. Technology has brought me in touch with some of the most amazing yogi's and writers I'd never have met without Twitter and Blogger. Technology helped me find my voice again, connected me with people I didn't know I needed until I found them and has opened up the world to me.

This post is part of #reverb11, a series of daily writing prompts to explore the year passed and manifest the year ahead. I'm following the prompts found here.