"Thankful Thursday"

I thought it was about time that I reflected upon the things I am thankful for... 2011 was a pretty rough year for me - it was chaotic, and felt drawn-out and tiresome... Thus the first thing I am thankful for, is the fact that 2011 is OVER (and never to be spoken of again!) and 2012 is just beginning...

So to celebrate my gratefulness of this new year, I am going to record what else I am thankful for...

• I am thankful, of course, for the pure serendipity that brought my children to me... That they essentially, in all reality, "shouldn't be here", yet they are and for that I am eternally grateful... My children chose to become my children, and I can never be thankful enough for that...
• I am thankful for anyone who has ever done me wrong... Because it's the most effective tool in being able to see the good in those who have not. If everyone was as fantastic as the people I choose to be close to, those people might not shine as bright. So cheers to the assholes who have made my friends and family "most awesome" in comparison!
• I am thankful for both experiences of getting it right the first time, but also for times of repeating "mistakes" over and over again until you've finally mastered the lesson that you were supposed to be learning... Whilst it'd be "nice" to be perfect all the time and never fuck up, it's life, and sometimes we fuck up. The trick is learning not to continually make the same fuck ups... and if you do, you'll ultimately EVENTUALLY and inevitably arrive at your destination regardless - it'll just take you longer, but the lesson might sink in deeper for that reason alone.
• I am thankful that I am now old enough to have a really healthy attitude towards life, and people... I've figured out the importance of discernment, and love that no longer do I immerse myself in other people's dramas or live vicariously through others... that gossip and idle botherliness no longer stirs excitement inside me, and basically only really worry what's going on under my own roof these days... It's not that I don't care about what's going on in other people's lives, it's just I've learnt to relish my own far better than to need to be submerged in the business of others...
• I am also thankful, on a similar note, that I've learnt to shrug off what others may think of me and my business, and am no longer phased when people are critical about the choices I have, or am, or will be making... As my mother always reminds me "Those who mind, don't matter, and those who matter - DON'T MIND!"
• I am thankful for ANYONE who can think outside the box...! In the last couple of years I have collected a FABULOUS array of interesting people - not constrained by geography nor gender nor age or demographic - whom I can enjoy the most scintillating conversations and friendship with... Because of their openmindedness and ability to think outwith the norm. Because it'd be pretty damn average if everyone thought the same... Random (not in the "I'm a teenager on Facebook and OMG look at me I'm like SOOOOO random I have cold spaghetti on my face and a huge flesh tunnel through my ear and I'm singing I'm a Little Tea Pot whilst wearing a flower pot on my head" sense - rather the "not constricted by the normal mode of thinking) is cool... Thanks for randomness... and "random" people...
• I am thankful that I was born with decent brains, in a decent country, with a decent level of freedom and autonomy, and decent healthcare/services, and that my life will ever-more be relatively decent... but thankful also that I have the heart and proactivity to empathise with those who don't and make my difference if and when I can...
• I am thankful for anyone who chooses to seize their passion and do something with it... I am acquainted with SO many people whom are following their dreams and doing whatever makes them happy. I am in awe of those who use their creativity, whether it be through art or sewing or writing or anything! I am glad that I found these people as they helped me identify passion and creativity within myself which had long been dormant whilst I plodded along working for the sake of working, not for the sake of enjoyment, and thus am thankful for what I am doing with my life right now and where I am heading...
• I am thankful for my family. Because they love me, just exactly how I am...
• I am thankful for fate, divine timing, serendipity and going out on a limb and taking a chance... What an adventure such forces creates in ones life!
• I am thankful that I have brains in my head, and feet in my shoes, that I can steer myself in any direction I choose... That I'm on my own, and I know what I know... and that I'll be the one who decides where to go ;)

'Til next time - peace out :)