Day 4 - Talk about what you're grateful for.

Have you ever sat down and truly thought about what you we're thankful for? When I read this deed so many things ran through my mind, how could I narrow down everything I was grateful for? And if I didn't narrow it down I would be writing a book because there are so many things I could think of that I am grateful for. 

For most of my life I have overlooked gratitude; I've always wanted more than I've had and I've never really stopped to be grateful for what I have other than on national holidays like Thanksgiving or when something goes wrong. I mean don't get me wrong, as a child I was taught to be grateful as in to say please and thank you and to always ask to be excused from the table before I got up, but the older I got the busier and the less I stopped to think about what I was grateful for. Simple things can trigger a feeling of gratitude - for example, everyone who's ever been sick knows that they value being healthy more when they're sick than they do when they're healthy, because they realize how wonderful it is to just feel normal.

With all of that being said, I share with you my list of things I am grateful for:

1. God♥  - The first thing I am grateful for is such an amazing, powerful and illuminating God. One who makes me see the beauty in everything, one who listens to me when no one else does, one that although I am alone I always feel him there. Thank you God for helping me when times get hard and thank you for opening my eyes to things people usually don't stop and take the time to look at. Thank you for helping me help others through you, thank you for being so astonishing, thank you for understanding who I am more than I understand, thank you for your comfort when I need you most and for your silence when I need to reflect. You are the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to this world and I am grateful for you.

2. My Family♥  - They are not "kind of crazy", they are completely crazy, the type of crazy that makes me smile because I know I am one of the luckiest girls in the world to have a family like mine. Although there may be arguments or disagreements like in any other family, the one thing there is always plenty of is love. We are so full of love, always have been and always will. They have always been there for me through thick and thin and I am convinced that I have one of the best families in the world, at least from my stand point of view. They catch me when I fall, they make me laugh when I'm hurt and not only are they my family but they are my best friends. My mother, my aunts, my cousins, my brother, my father, they are all pieces of me, pieces I hold dear to my heart and I don't know where I would be without them and can't picture life without them.

3. My friends♥  - I've noticed that many people who call themselves friends walk in and out of your life. But there comes a time when someone walks in and you just know they we're meant for you, they are there for good no matter what happens, kind of like soul mates but friend soul mates.  Over the years I've come to learn that close friends are truly life's treasures, sometimes they know you better than you know yourself. Someone who you can be completely yourself around, when your needy, when your weak, when your sad, there's no hiding it. Someone who knows every single thing about you and still loves you, tremendously, for you, not for being something that you are not. Twenty years from now I am going to look back and remember the ones that could turn every frown into a smile in a few simple words. The ones that lifted my head when I was losing faith in myself. The one's who carried tears on their shoulders after every fight, every break-up, every death. The ones who accepted every decision I made, the ones who knew who I really was, and the ones that made the biggest difference in my life... my best friends, and I am beyond grateful for them.
 

4. Animals♥  - I am so grateful for all of the animals in the world, they brighten my day and make me smile. Animals are loyal, loving, always happy to see you and the only thing they want from you is to love you and be loved in return.


5. Kisses and Hugs♥  - I am grateful for those kisses and hugs that don't happen all of the time. The ones that knock you off of your feet and makes you smile and leaves you breathless and gives you butterflies all at the same time. Or the hugs and kisses on the forehead from your loved ones when you need them most.


6. Cookies and Desserts♥  - I'm grateful for the cookies and desserts that melt in your mouth and taste so good and instantly make you feel better.


7. Sunny Days♥  - I am grateful for the days when the sun is shining on my face and I can't help but to think how beautiful life is and everything living in it. It's funny how sunny days make you happier and make you appreciate life more.


8. Laughter♥  - It's proven that laughter reduces stress, improves breathing, automatically makes you feel better, cleanses you all the way down to your soul, and according to most doctors laughing is the best medicine. If you can make a girl laugh you can make her do anything. I am grateful for laughing, which is one of the best feelings in the world.


9. Breakfast in Bed♥ - I am grateful for the mornings I wake up with a loved one holding a just made, warm and tasteful breakfast over my head so that I can have breakfast in bed. I love breakfast in bed.


10. Good Novels and Poetry♥ - I am grateful for the books I read that leave me in awe with a whole new view on the world, or the books that make me live in a fantasy world. I am grateful for poetry and what it has brought into my life, it's taught me to love a little longer and hug a little tighter. I love books. I love that moment when you open one and sink into it, you can escape from the world, into a story that's way more interesting than yours will ever be.


11. The Ocean♥ - I am grateful for the beautiful ocean that can instantly turn a bad day into a good one. I am grateful for the days I get to sit in the sand and just listen to the waves crashing on the shore. "The world is a watery shadow of ocean-love, that sea of light cannot be contained in single humans, so leave fragments, and be the mountain."


12. Love♥♥ - I am grateful for love. "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."  Love is the best feeling in the world, it brings beauty to anything and can put you on the highest high of all highs. It can make you light headed and smiley and make you want to day dream all day. It can make you feel safe and give you butterflies and for that I am thankful.


13. Wine♥ - I am grateful for wine and all the nights it's brought laughter and tears to my loved ones and myself. A good wine can make you feel sexy, strong and able to take on the world. "Wine is sunlight held together by water!" - Galileo Gallilei


14. Children♥ - I am grateful for the innocence in children, for their laughter and carelessness and for their love. A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable and while we try to teach children all about life, they end up teaching us what life is all about.


15. Life♥ - I am grateful for life in general, for giving me the chance to experience all that I am experiencing, and will be experiencing in the time to come. The challenges it brings that help me grow and become the person I am today. I am grateful for kind strangers that brighten up your days when you least expect it and teach you that life isn't all selfishness.

I can go on and on about what I am grateful for but these are some of some of the most important things to me. Sometimes we forget that there is much around us to be thankful for.  And we often take for granted the time we have with our loved ones. It's not until we are reminded of how precious life and every breath is, that we can truly be thankful. And in the midst of uncertainty and fear, God is the one who brings light out of the darkness and hope out of fear.

Your life story is written with every breath you take and when we take the time to look at the world around us, we see just how amazing this life is.

"Let us rise up and be thankful for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful." - Buddha