Happy Birthday to me and here's my word.

Happy Birthday to me! Today's my birthday and I love it. I have had two days of early celebrations and today is the big day. It's been great so far.

So I still hadn't picked a word for this year. I kept thinking maybe it would be trust again. And then today I was thinking about how blessed I was and started looking for a quote to share. The quote I found made it clear to me what my word needed to be. First, the quote:

"Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything, This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything."

Alan Cohen

That hit so close to home for me. I think I'm a pretty grateful person. I try to look for the good in things but I do let things get to me more than they really should. I, like everyone else, have not had a perfect life. I have had struggles and dark times and suffered loss. But oh the joys I have had and continue to have. If I stop and think about it I truly feel amazed. And all those struggles and hardships got me to where I am. They molded me and shaped me. If I had a pretty uneventful life I don't think I would even halfway appreciate what I have today.

So this year my word is gratitude. I am going to work on being grateful, in looking for the blessing in everything, in not letting little things get to me so much. Because no matter what happens I have a life so full of love it takes my breath away.