G is for Gratitude

Several years ago, I was living in a basement apartment in the home of a lady I’ll call Annie. She was single and about a dozen years older than me. Whenever I saw her in passing, I’d ask “How are you today Annie?” and she’d always answer with “Oh I’m grateful”.  After a while, it was like 'oh come on, nobody is grateful ALL THE TIME', but as I got to know her I came to realize it was true. She was always calm and pleasant, able to see the positive side of whatever I was griping about. One evening over glasses of wine, I was voicing my frustrations over my current romantic situation. I exhaled an exasperated “Why does this keep happening to me?” to which Annie replied “It’s because you keep allowing it to happen”. I said “Huh?” She lent me a copy of The Secret on DVD and I put off watching it because I thought the whole thing sounded hokey. I finally watched it one night when I was home bored and my life has never been the same since. I’ll admit the presentation is cheesy but the content is solid. There are some interesting, charismatic speakers and by the end, I was practically standing up cheering for myself and the great changes I was about to make! A few months later, I went through a bizarre, messy relationship/break up and that’s when it occurred to me that situations such as this were happening for me and not just to me. My heart was broken and my world was upside down for a short time but I was still standing and I still lived in a beautiful place. Eventually I was able see all the good things that came out of the experience and look back on that time in my life as a transformation phase. It’s when I started to see how much there really is to be grateful for in each day. I started by writing in my journal at the end of each day and listing three things I was thankful for right then. If you've never done something similar, I suggest you give it a try. I moved out of that apartment that same year. It was time to move on for several different reasons. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that Annie crossed my path so that I could finally learn what The Universe had been trying to teach me.