Step back, breath...

    The present

+ an attitude of gratitude

+ positive action

__________________

= my perfect life.

Excerpt from: Living a Five Star Life,

by Betty Mahalik

http://www.simpletruths.com/

***********************************************

I have much for which I am grateful.  Sometimes I get so hung up in looking into the future that I forget to stop & simply say "Thank you" for all that I have today.  After all, today is really all we have.  As the saying goes, "Life is what happens when we are making plans".  That is so very true, & I have seen it first-hand on more than one occasion.  Plans are good, but not when the planning of  Life hampers the Living of Life.  Life is meant to to be a full-out, adrenaline pumping, head-long race.  Not to a goal so much as to an Adventure.  At least that is what it has always been for me.   The Adventure of  Living  is what makes Life so exciting, fulfilling, & worth-while.  Because when you are in that Adventure you experience, truly experience, all that Life has to offer.  Mostly good, but some tragic.  But it is through tragedy that we learn to savor the good times, to remember that Life is short-lived (shorter for some than others), & that we must take time for what is truly important.  Love, living fully, service to others, compassion, acceptance, humility, humanity, tolerance.  To serve & love others as much or more than yourself is truly a Life well lived.

So, today I stopped, took a deep breath, & remember all the things (in no particular order) for which I am grateful:

• Great friends
• A job
• A lovely home
• A reliable car
• Good health
• My sanity
• The ability to do as I please with my free-time
• Sitting on the back patio at sunset with my pupsters enjoying the last vestige of the day
• Watching the sun go down, the moon come up & the stars coming out to play
• Watching lightening bugs dance across the yard
• Listening to the doves coo
• Watching the sun come up & the world come alive
• Being greeted with puppy kisses & hugs
• The smiles that light up the faces of my grandchildren
• Laughter
• A day filled with sunshine
• A little jingle in my pocket for a treat now & then
• A personal relationship with Great Spirit
• A loving relationship with my son & his family
• Beautiful, smart, happy, healthy grandchildren

The list could go on, but I think you get the idea.  It is the simple things, the things that we all go to work each day to provide ourselves & our family.  It is the things that cannot be bought with the fruits of our labors.  It is all the things with which we are blessed.  Not because we deserve any of  them, but because the Universe saw fit to give them to us.

So, let's just stop-step back-breath-& say "Thank you". 

~~blessed be...