my gratitude

To start out with, I want you to watch this video. It's called The Science of Happiness-- An Experiment in Gratitude:

This video is from a site called SoulPancake. The site was created by Rainn Wilson, who you probably recognize as Dwight from the office, but it turns out this guy is a lot more than just odd ball jokes. I have been watching through a lot of the videos from SoulPancake recently, really just because I think that a lot of them have beautiful messages and give some really fascinating perspectives on life. (You probably remember the viral video Kid President also put out by them.)

Anyways, this video really got me thinking about gratitude, which is quite appropriate given that Thanksgiving is this week (one of my absolute favorite holidays!!). I think that writing is one of the most cathartic experiences you could possibly have and so it has recently become my goal to start journaling more. 

Over the past while, I have mostly used this blog as my journal, and this has been incredibly effective for me. I mostly use my personal journal for emotions and experiences that I don't feel comfortable sharing with a mass audience, which lets be honest are mostly when I am upset by something, hurt, or confused. So, if you read my journal, I probably wouldn't sound like the most positive person, and this is not what I want. In particular I like to write letters to people in my journal. Really this is the most effective way I have ever found to release emotions and deal with how I am feeling about someone. These letters are never meant to be delivered or read to the person, just to help me figure out how to deal with whatever I am dealing with. But, most of the time (...ok all the time) these letters are not to people because I am grateful for them, or proud of them, or happy to have them in my life, they are because I feel like they hurt me. So, the new goal, start writing letters to people not because I am upset with them, but because I am amazed by them. Because I am glad to be a part of their life. Because I am glad that they are a part of mine. I don't know if I would ever be bold enough to call someone and read my letter to them, but I'll be sure to start sneaking into conversation how much you all really mean to me. 

I thought a lot about including a letter to someone on my blog here, but I honestly couldn't pick just one person. There are too many people that I could talk about impacting my life. So, instead my shout out is to everyone who has ever cared about me enough to read my blog. When I started this, I had no idea where I was going, but I just started writing, and I started posting, and people started reading it, and that has meant more to me than you can ever imagine. I seriously have no idea how to react when people tell me that they read my blog, because I feel like sometimes I share some very personal things one here, but at the same time I want people to read what I am writing. I want to share with you, whether this is the first time you have ever opened my page or you are an every week reader, if you are my mom or someone totally random who has somehow found my blog, thank you for thinking that what I have to say means something. Everyone has an incredible and unique voice, and over the past few years this has been my way of sharing mine. I probably would have continued posting on my blog even if no one ever looked at it, no one ever commented, or no one ever told me hey I read your blog last night and I thought it was great. But, the fact that all of those things have happened, makes me excited to post on my blog every week and express myself in a way that I am not always able to do when I am just shooting words out of my mouth. The amount of support I have felt from the people around me in my adventures in blogging has impacted me in positive ways that I never could have imagined. So here's to you for taking the time to read my blog, and making me feel like my voice matters. Thank you. I am grateful for you in ways you would never expect. 

Happy Thanksgiving ya turkeys. Be sure to spread the gratitude and love and little extra this week. It will make you a happier person!

peace. love. and gratitude.