I posted this on the blog at HHS, but I wanted to share it here also:
Happy 2008 to all of our HHS friends!
You know, life is just busy! I remember when I was a kid it seemed like a year lasted forever. Now as an adult it seems like years pass with the blink of an eye. I am certain it was just yesterday that my oldest daughter was a baby in my arms and yet this year I will watch her graduate from high school and see her go off to college in another state. Most days I feel like I am on the run every moment of the day, I barely take a moment to breathe, let alone stop and reflect and be grateful for this day or this life. I am so fortunate and so grateful, but yet most days I don't prioritize the time to remind myself of that. Sadly it takes seeing a tragic moment in someone else's life to stop and reflect for a moment that I am indeed very blessed and that I am grateful for that.
In our forum we were discussing goals and resolutions for the year. Each of us seemed to be sharing the same thoughts, to slow down, step back, and to appreciate more. If you are like me, it is easy to say I *want* to do this or I *want* to that, but even easier to get caught up in life and forget what we *want* to do and get lost in what we think we *have* to do. It is easy for me today, on New Years Day, to say I want to do more things to nurture the inner me, but quite a bit harder to do it and stick to it each and every day. I suppose it seems kind of silly that I need a reminder to be grateful every day, but I do. I guess it is the same with any healthy lifestyle change like better eating and exercise, we need reminders and community support until the habit is formed and the new activity becomes second nature.
Jen K. shared a link with us to Emily Falconbridge's blog where she shared a gratitude journal that she started for Thanksgiving. Jen shared with us that it had inspired her to keep a gratitude journal as well and that she planned to begin hers for the New Year. Several of us jumped on board with the idea and decided that we wanted to do the same. . . so a year long HHS community project was born. Each week Jen plans to share inspiring thoughts, quotes, or inspirations to keep us going. If you would like to join us, we have a new forum set up dedicated just to this project {here} as well as gallery {here}.
I hope that as you begin this new year, you will take a little time here and there to reflect on what is right and what is good in your world and express gratitude for all that you have. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and blessed year.
