Wow! What an overwhelming response to my giveaway! Thank you so much everyone. I'm closing in on 200 followers and I'm meeting some really talented artists. All in all a totally fun experience!
Many of my new followers have been poking around the blog and reading some of my older posts. (Thank you!!!) One of you commented about my post entitled "Cultivating an Attitude of Gratitude All the Time" which I originally posted Thanksgiving week last November. My personal favorite Gratitude post is "Anticipating Gratitude, AKA Christmas Morning kind of Living" and since I am feeling so very Grateful it seems ideal for a gratitude revisit here during my Hiatus.
Anticipating Gratitude, AKA Christmas Morning kind of Living
I'm a big holiday gal. I love any excuse for celebration and I particularly like a good surprise. Christmas morning, before a single present is opened is probably my favorite moment all year. I also like the ride to the airport before a trip or even a few stolen minutes before my family wakes up. There is something about the potentiality of of those moments that makes my soul sing. Once the paper is off the packages, sun lotion is squeezed or the morning routine is underway I forget the bliss of expectations, mostly unrealized.
You see that is the thing. BEFORE anything happens there is this moment of possibility so pure that even though you have had years and years of mediocre, less then stellar happenings, there is always the hope that perhaps THIS TIME it will be one of the perfect ones. A surprise pulled off that totally blows your mom's mind in the best of ways, a vacation enjoyed so thoroughly that when it is time to go you feel satisfied and wanting no more, or a day of playful seamless joy when you would wish for nothing to change your life even one little bit.
The interesting thing about those MOMENTS BEFORE is that they happen ALL THE TIME. Moments before your husband tracks mud all through the house, moments before a favorite Teddy loses an ear, moments before the sunburn, moments before Jessie opens the exact same present for the second time... moments before are all still pure potential.
You see that is the thing. BEFORE anything happens there is this moment of possibility so pure that even though you have had years and years of mediocre, less then stellar happenings, there is always the hope that perhaps THIS TIME it will be one of the perfect ones. A surprise pulled off that totally blows your mom's mind in the best of ways, a vacation enjoyed so thoroughly that when it is time to go you feel satisfied and wanting no more, or a day of playful seamless joy when you would wish for nothing to change your life even one little bit.
The interesting thing about those MOMENTS BEFORE is that they happen ALL THE TIME. Moments before your husband tracks mud all through the house, moments before a favorite Teddy loses an ear, moments before the sunburn, moments before Jessie opens the exact same present for the second time... moments before are all still pure potential.
Certainly it may seem as if the tide was already turning in a specific direction when your toddler took the top off the bottle of glue but what if, crazily possibly if, it might be ok anyway. Maybe she won't pour it all over your new sweater. Maybe she will carefully place it on the table. Maybe she'lll spend 20 happy minutes making a masterpiece of feathers and cotton balls so you can finish dinner. Maybe the sweater will come clean in the washer when you thought it was dry clean only and you will be freed up to wear it all the time. Maybe the sweater will harden into an irreparable lump suitable for cotton ball and feather sculptures that take 30 minutes and allow mommy to take a whole shower all by herself! Maybe...
As life happens, it is the rare occasion when we allow ourselves to have that Christmas morning kind of thinking. We have limited the amount of grateful anticipation and substitute worry, disappointment or, possibly the worst of all, knowing exactly what will happen. We live lives that are predictable and if we tell the truth are rarely remarkable in our eyes. We've been brought up to think that looking through "rose colored glasses" isn't necessarily a good thing but I'm beginning to think that may be all wrong. What if we could add the slightest shade of pink and add a sense of wonder to our everyday moments. What if we allowed ourselves to be delighted and surprised by all of it?
Maybe, crazily possibly maybe, we can!
Next Post: Hiatus continues...
Don't forget to comment on this and every post all week for another entry into the big giveaway!
My 13 bliss virtues: joy, order, creativity, passion, whimsy, serenity, inquiry, community, romance, gratitude, moxie, humility, surprise
Excellent photo :-) come and join my Bunny giveaway there are 30 others to in the hop.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking again about gratitude lately. I have a lot recently to be grateful for. In fact, my next post will deal with gratitude. Thanks for reposting this (since I am a relative newcomer to your blog) - I greatly appreciate it!!! :) Theresa
ReplyDeleteOh my GOODNESS I LOVE this! The thought of potential, of being grateful for possibility and - in a sense - exactly what is instead of what we fear might be...
ReplyDeleteAh, I could (should) spend hours going back through those old posts I missed. So much wisdom!
Oh the quiet before my famiy wakes up. The few times I have been awake for that are heavenly. However I want to work on being disciplined to be an early riser every morning.
ReplyDeletebeautiful photo and post!
ReplyDelete&
i <3 christmas morning kinda thinking. :]