My Favorite Daily Practice

One year ago this weekend I flew to Chicago with 2 of my closest friends. On a surreal adventure we were off to watch the Oprah show (see previous blog for the details).

One of the highlights of this trip was meeting my 'Gratitude Buddy' Kerry Sammon for the first time face to face.

Let me back up a little, in early 2009 I received an email from a stranger. Kerry's email read something like this "This might seem strange, but I read this article about 2 women who were gratitude buddies and how it changed their lives and when I ask my guidance who would be good I keep getting your name- I know you don't know me, but what do you think?". Kerry and I had shared a coach, Sharon Desjarlais and she had used some of my work as examples for Kerry.

I enthusiastically replied 'yes' and we began a near daily exchange of gratitude emails. In an unspoken pact Kerry and I did not exchange any other details of our lives- gratitude only. I can't tell you how joyful it is to get to know someone only by what they are grateful for. Our gratitude ranged from the minute- I am grateful for green grass- to the Divine- I am grateful for God's love for me and everything in between.

Gradually over the next couple of months it came out that we had both started out with careers as Physical Therapists and had moved on to do CranioSacral and Intuitive work. We had both had cancer in our late 20's and were survivors who now take thyroid medication as a result. We both had birthdays in March and we were consistently reading the same books.

Daily gratitude with Kerry has truly changed my life. I often find myself composing the emails in my head, capturing gratitude that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. I purposefully use the gratitude emails to lift my spirits when I'm down.

Dusty (my husband) has long since stopped asking me what I am smiling at- I have a 'patented gratitude smile' that comes when I read Kerry's gratitude emails and more than once I have been literally laughing out loud at my Mac.

Kerry is now offering to be a 'gratitude matchmaker' and I am quite sure that she would agree with me that this single and simple act has enriched our daily lives and impacted our success in the past 18 months.

So, back to flying to Chicago. There at the airport was my dear new friend Kerry- we were not in the car 5 minutes before we were in deep conversation about the joy of being human (I will blog on this conversation tomorrow- it's a gooder). We spent 4 days in her home/wellness center- taking in Oprah, meditating together and painting her workspace.

I am so grateful to have Kerry in my life.

If you are looking for simplicity in self help, for ease of movement, for the quick fix- try gratitude, it's working for me.