Day 1: A New Beginning

I had been thinking about starting a gratitude journal many months ago.  It was something I had heard of people doing and thought that it would be a good idea to start the practice myself.  However, like most things, it fell to the back of my mind as work got more stressful, day to day demands had to be taken care of, the need to spend time with family and friends, and every other excuse I could come up with.  Needless to say, the grand idea of starting a gratitude journal disappeared from me mind and I didn't think on it for a long while.

Then just today while talking with a friend, she suggested that her Angels were guiding her to share an exercise with me and asked if I would be interested in hearing about it.  Well of course I was!  Can you imagine my amusement went she brought up keeping a gratitude journal and writing five things down every night?  She told me, (and I agree!) that it was my Guides nudging me to pick up this project and stick with it.

So here is goes...

1. The first thing I am grateful for tonight is my friend, Jodi.  While we haven't known each other long, honestly it's probably only been a week, I swear I have known her for years.  I feel so comfortable talking to her and feel like we connect on a soulful level.  Her kind and supporting words are refreshing to me as I often hear negative talk thrown at me all day.  I am thankful that we were able to connect and can only hope that our friendship continues to blossom.  I am grateful that her Angels suggested I keep this gratitude journal, and I am thankful she shared that with me.  Like I said, I do believe it was my Guides as well as hers working in conjunction to get me to do this.
2. The second thing I am grateful for tonight is the fact that I didn't hit the baby deer that jumped out in the middle of the road on my way home from work.  Unfortunately, Thursdays I leave work anywhere between 8-8:30pm which in the summer is twilight and prime deer time.  As I was driving on the very windy road where my store is located, I saw a fawn start to dart from the side of the road.  I slammed on my breaks and thankfully, the fawn ran back into the field.  I am beyond thankful that despite it being a big scare for the two of us, we are both okay.
3. The third thing I am grateful for tonight is my fiance's cologne.  That probably sounds really silly, but due to finances, my fiance and I continue to live at our respective homes which means we are not living together.  In fact, I only get to see him a few times a week due to work and then he spends a couple of nights over at my house.  He started bringing his cologne over and spraying it on my pillows so that way, while I'm going to sleep, I can still smell him and feel like he's still with me (physically), even if he's not.  It brings me lots of comfort, especially if I've had a bad day at work.
4. The fourth thing I am grateful for tonight is stretching.  I took dance classes from the time I was two all the way until high school.  I actually forgot how goooooood it feels!  I went into New York City with my fiance yesterday and did a lot of walking.  I was very sore while at work but decided to do some lunges and, oh!, I felt so much better!  I am going to make a commitment to myself to do stretching everyday!  Eventually, I would like to begin practicing yoga.
5. The last thing I am grateful for tonight is my courage, no matter how small it may be.  I was led by Spirit to participate in the David Yohn Memorial Scholarship offered by the Flora Sage Institute for the Psychic Development program.  Basically, we had to make a 2-4 minute video explaining different things.  I stepped out of my comfort zone and made a video along with 16 other people.  There were lots of ties and ultimately the full scholarship was granted to two people...and I was not one of them.  I was actually very confident in my application and thought I stood a good chance of winning.  I would be lying if I said I didn't cry when I found out I had lost.  There are many personal, emotional, and spiritual reasons why I felt guided to take this program and my heart sank when I found out I wouldn't be able to.  It still stings a bit, I'm not going to lie, and there if part of me, my negative voice, that mocks me for even trying; telling me I should have known I would lose and I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.  Yet, there is a part of me, a very quiet, soft voice, that says it wasn't a waste to try.  That it showed confidence to be able to share what I did for others to see.  So I am grateful for that courage, no matter how minuscule it is.

So until tomorrow, sweet dreams.