It’s in how we live.
Gratitude.
I am sharing this here before I hit send to a message I got from another coach.
I love having conversations with coaches, as it’s a space where growth mindset gets to flourish.
And even in that sentence I just wrote… do you see the gratitude?
I am brought back to the moments when the boys were young. When prompting them to say “Thank you” and to use the rest of the manners as well was a simple, repetitive journey. And as they got older, it slipped more and more. My goal shifted from just being mannerable to embodying gratitude as the attitude they live through. And that got “hard” really quick.
The slide that unthankfulness becomes is quite steep. Its guardrails are justification, haste, annoyance, and entitlement. It takes you to a whole other world that is wrought with things coming at you from all sides that you can’t seem to get enough defense up against. It brings overwhelm as a crazy carpet that you inevitably choose to grip tightly because you don’t know what is around the corner or where it's taking you. Your nervous system is firing off “threat” at every bump or new sensation and now the river of joy that you used to walk beside, is no longer quenching your thirst. Frustration, bitterness, and all the other “friends” that are now invited to join in on your journey take you off course and ultimately begin to change the way you are wired and how you respond.
Seeing loved ones and family struggle in this “desert” away from joy, away from thankfulness & a life of gratitude, has become a part of my journey. I used to respond (or reflect) with frustration, disdain, despair. And then… I shook my head and thought, “what is this?”
Because, by nature, when I'm to myself, I am in gratitude. I wake up and drink in the clean air and sunrise. So is it something that is of our natural essence? Is joy the natural pH that flows through our spiritual veins? I ask to bring these ponderings and images to the front of your mind...to consider where you are at today.
So I create spaces where people can connect in with their own personal gratitude, inside and out. 
Here is my response...
"Yes it is beneficial. I do make note of my gratitudes in my journalling. And I hold the space of embodiment with my thankful practice moreso. I meditate. I feel the safety in my body. The calmness in my demeanor. The kindness in my touch and tone. The awe and childlike delight of what's in my environment. Opening up the drapes and breathing in the sunshine. Sitting with my face to the sun first thing in the morning.
Gratitude is the lived experience. A lifestyle. The way we move with mindfulness in our moments and choose to experience the joy and rejoicing in the gift of living."
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