This past weekend I did something entirely new.

While I have been promoting my speaking, teaching and writing for a few years now this is the first time I was asked to teach a gratitude workshop. It was interesting to me that, while I immediately said yes, I resisted it.

Why resist gratitude?

That wasn’t what I was resisting. It was a paying gig and a paying gig doing something I had never done before. After making the decision to just say yes to opportunity I found myself with an unusual opportunity. I learned about myself and about gratitude and about personal value. I was grateful for the opportunity, but I wasn’t initially confident. Ask me to teach a character workshop like I will be doing this summer and I will be there in a heartbeat! This was different.

For me gratitude is an attitude more than a thing to do. I write my three things every morning and I recall them during the day. Somedays it is typical :3 F’s(faith family friends and enuf $ for today.Sometimes it is more. In speaking at the women’s retreat on Saturday I wanted to make gratitude attainable. Something reachable not scary not threatening not :

         

I didn’t want it to be in a giant font with exclamation points like it was screaming, “YOU WILL BE GRATEFUL!”

                                   

Sometimes gratitude is lip balm.

Sometimes on some days, when you are feeling like crap or scared or hungry or sick or in pain –gratitude can be about lip balm, or the sun, or warm socks. It doesn’t have to be about family, faith friends, God, or about the experience you are having or some grand deep idea.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes gratitude is just about lip balm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also realized my resistance was because I wasn’t sure how to make this real to the women who might be expecting an exercise, an assignment, some artwork to do.

 

So I had them stamp their feet.

 

 

When I was little and suffering from allergies, or a teen with horrid period cramps occasionally mom would trot out “At least you have your health.” I get what she meant now but at the time in the throws of misery I would think “WHAT FRICKIN’ HEALTH?”

So I had the women stamp their feet because that is all that is going on. Right here. Right now. The only thing happening that is real is you stamping your feet.

 

Try it.

Stamp your feet.

Nothing else is happening. In this moment you have enough money, time, opportunity, because the only thing that is happening is you are stamping your feet. You know what they say about having one foot in the past and one in the future? You are in a good position to piss on the present.

 

 

This is how I got through cancer. The death of my father was years before and l lived in the moment then too. Couldn’t do anything else.

Live in the moment. Live in the now.

Gratitude is an attitude about life– about the moment you are in right now.

Be present.

(PS the pink running shoes have Right Here written on them to remind me)

I need to buy this…purchase here