What is there to be Grateful for?
To me, the most valuable thing we have is our health. This year, more than a few significant people in my life have died of cancer at a very young age (40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s). I’ve known a few others who have had to have various tests done to ensure that what they were experiencing was not of a critical nature. On the other side of that test, when they found out that they were okay, I found myself breathing easier, extremely grateful for their good health.
What if we were to value our own health NOW, today? I always saw myself as healthy, but as I age, I realize that there is more I can do to honor my body, my mind, my energy, and my spirit.
Health encompasses so much. It is our bodies, what we eat, how we exercise and move. But it is also how we sleep, how we breathe, how we schedule ourselves so that we have less stress and a more peaceful life. It is our mindset, how we think about ourselves, others, life, and the world. It is also how we behave and whether we see ourselves in the world as either separate or connected, as part of a bigger whole. When we start to be curious about the interconnectedness of health, we realize that the air we breathe, the food we choose to eat, the tone of our homes...all come from the environment that WE CREATE and that matters. The health of the world directly affects every one of us.
This can seem daunting. But it starts with right now… what could you do that would be a healthy choice? It starts with a commitment to ourselves and our health. One decision at a time. Rather than making it a BIG project, what if we just slowly but consistently took better care of us: what we choose to put in our bodies, what we choose to buy at the grocery store, what we choose to say to our kids, what we choose to say to friends, the type of work we choose, the thoughts we have and continue to have... Each little decision adds up to a total sum: “Are we honoring ourselves, or aren’t we?”
After all, when we truly begin to honor ourselves, we find it so much easier to honor each other. And when we honor ourselves and each other, there is so much to be grateful for. Happy Gratitude Season!
