Grateful for Amazing Weather

I live in Western Oregon.  It is usually getting fairly cool and rainy and staying that way by now.  But today it was sunny and in the mid-70s!  I was able to get a bunch of yard work done after church today.  The downside to this is that I realized that I really want to re-landscape my back yard THIS winter rather than waiting until next winter...  I better really focus and get to work so I can pay my landscaper!

I'm just so grateful for this gift of a beautiful day!

Grateful for Reconnecting

Today I had the wonderful surprise of a phone call from an old friend.  I've moved a LOT, and I'm not super great at keeping in touch with people, but recently I've tried to be much better about that.  It's been more of an intention than an action so far, but intentions are powerful and cause things to happen.

It was so wonderful to hear from my friend from Spokane - I hadn't talked to her in years!  The last time I saw her, my 20 year old was celebrating her 13th birthday.  She is someone I think about often as we share the same faith community, are both in healthcare, and she taught me to knit.  And she's just someone I really, truly enjoy - one of those people who just clicks.

Come to find out, she is studying in the same program another friend of mine in Virginia completed a year ago - working to become a health coach.  Being an energy healer myself, and training to become a business coach, we had a lot to talk about!

Is there anyone in your life you haven't talked to in a while?  Just pick up the phone - they will be thrilled to hear from you!

Grateful for Flexibility

Corvallis schools are so smart - they schedule conferences for the two days following Halloween, so the kids get to sleep in the two mornings after the big night!  I absolutely love it!

So with Stephanie off for the day, the two of us were free to drive up to Portland to help Bekka move into her new, super cute apartment.  Bekka's been living in an unschool house in the weird city since the spring and has been really ready for a change for a few months.  She and her friend, Laurel finally found replacements for their rooms in the unschool house and found the cutest apartment in a nice neighborhood.  They are so excited!

Time for Some Gratitude

Forgive me readers. It's been 11 months since my last post. But it is now November and I love the practice of posting my gratitude each day (even when I start late or get behind).

 Today I'm grateful for passionate people who care about others. Even people they don't know and will never meet. Tonight I went to a Single Payer Healthcare Info Night at a friend's house and met a wonderful woman who has been working to establish a single payer system in Oregon for over 30 years.

There are so many reasons I believe single payer healthcare is a good solution.  Currently we pay almost double any other industrialized country per capita, yet we have over 50 million people without health insurance, and WHO ranks us 37th in terms of health outcomes.  People are losing their homes because of out of control healthcare costs.  It's estimated that the amount we would save in paperwork alone would be enough to cover everyone who is currently uninsured without increasing current cost.  Most Americans get their health insurance from their employer, with premiums on the rise, employers are cutting back on the number of full-time employees.  In fact, our local community college has fewer instructors per student due to health insurance costs - which results in larger classes and a greater, more stressful workload for the remaining instructors, which decreases their health!

A friend of mine posted yesterday that when their oldest was little, her husband made $24K/year.  Now, 20 years later, they are paying $24K/year in health insurance premiums!

In addition to money, Single Payer makes sense for the health of our population (and this is also a money thing, too).  Uninsured people do not receive the preventative care they need.  They are forced to wait until they are terribly ill then go to the emergency room.  Not only does this not serve their health, but this type of "healthcare" is more expensive for everyone, because we all pay these costs.

There are so many more points to make, but that would be a book!  So I'll leave you with this Walter Cronkite quote, "American's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system."

Talented

I am grateful that I am talented in the art of clearing emotional garbage for my SimplyHealed clients! It is so rewarding to work with someone and help them clean up the crap they've been dragging around with them, to help them move on to a more positive life!

Compassionate

Today I got to spend a few hours with my Transitions client. I love that I am compassionate and have the freedom of time to spend two hours a week with a senior who lives alone.

I also am grateful that my client is interested in ideas and open to learning new things - our time together is so fulfilling!

Follow Through

I love that I now follow through with things and no longer procrastinate! It feels SO good to just get things done!

Connection

Our new interim minister started this fall and I've been attending just about as many services as I can since he came. I even joined the choir, which means that on the Sundays we sing, I sit through both (almost identical) services!

Well, this morning as I came in the building carrying the 15 tablecloths I washed from the Thanksgiving Fest Event, just about every other person I passed greeted me by name, before I was even able to put my name tag on! Now I know what it feels like to once again be connected to my church community. It has been a long six years without that connection and I'm so grateful to have it in my life again.

I don't know that this post is really within the assignment, but I am grateful for my ability to make these connections. There! I made it fit!

My Business

Today I am super grateful for my business and my ability to attract amazing people to my business. I love getting to know wonderful people through my work.

Abstention

Today is Black Friday - the beginning of the Christmas shopping frenzy. I'm grateful that I don't have to participate. I'm grateful that I shop locally when I do shop and I grateful for living in a place where this wasn't an event!

Endurance

Today was a long, wonderful day full of people, service, fun, food, connecting...

I got to the church at 10:30 to help with set up for our Fest Event, after waiting for what seemed like forever for it to get that late! I was at the church until about noon, came home and make another dish for the potluck, then headed back to the church at 3:00 to start cooking gravy and potatoes. In the kitchen until 5:30, then enjoying wonderful food (love that we have both vegan and gluten-free sections at our potlucks), conversation, games, and a tad bit of clean up before heading home at 9:30.

It was a marathon of a day, but oh so satisfying!

So in light of what this day brought, I am grateful for my endurance. I was pretty much full of energy up to the end. I even volunteered to bring the big stack of dirty tablecloths home to wash - one and a half loads today, the rest tomorrow!

Powerful Intention

Wow! I've really learned how to use my powerful intention in my life. Today after dropping Stephanie off for her early morning flight, I was faced, once again, with heavy rain and extra heavy holiday traffic.

Each time it looked like it was going to slow down I said an affirmation about traffic flowing freely where I needed to go and it just would!

I'm a Good Driver

Today, driving Stephanie up to Portland to catch an early morning flight tomorrow, I'm very grateful that I'm such a good driver. The conditions where pretty terrible - raining cats and dogs with holiday traffic thrown in for good measure!

Even with the less than ideal conditions we made it without any problems.

Working on Self

I'm grateful for the time I take to work on myself and be a better me. Part of that is doing exercises like this where I delve into what I appreciate about myself. We can all use a little more appreciation in our lives and I believe it is important to give ourselves what we need. That's why I buy myself flowers and chocolates when I want them!

Authenticity

I am grateful for living an authentic life. I'm not perfect, and I don't want to be. Sometimes I slip, but I am always striving for my mission: Living a life of gratitude and authenticity.

I am Happy

I love that I'm a happy person. When I look around and see so many people who just don't get there, I'm especially grateful for my disposition!

Night Owl & Early Bird

Today is the last day of school for a week. I usually stay up pretty late and I'm oh so grateful that I'm not able to sleep in - I truly wake up naturally around 6:30 in the morning most mornings!

I'm actually only able to sleep about six and a half hours a night and I wake up perfectly rested and I'm energized all day! A lot of that has to do with the doTERRA supplements that I take each day, since before I started them, I had to sleep a full eight hours a night, but I can honestly say that I'm grateful to my body for reacting as it does to the supplements!

Deal with it!

I had to tell some workmen that I wasn't happy with the work they had done while I was away last week. They came to fix it, but weren't really able to fix it all that well. I'm grateful I was able to express my disappointment while being kind and not making them feel horrible. I do hate to deal with stuff like this, but I did it!

I always hate paying someone to do something I could have done better!

Letting Go

Today and Steve and Bekka leave for California, I am grateful for my ability to let go. To allow others in my life to go and explore without my need to manage, control, or be there. Wishing Bekka well in her championship competition!

Centeredness

Today I am grateful for my ability to be and remain centered. That is all. That is enough.