Thoughts

As I'm out running today I'm thinking about my life over the past year.  Now, my life has been far from perfect over the past 12 months with my share (or maybe more than my share) of trials and tribulations.  But all in all, I still feel like I have so very much to be grateful for.  My daily practice of gratitude includes writing in my gratitude journal every night before I turn out the light.

I actually started journaling over 3 years ago and for the better part of the last 3 years I used the journal as a cathartic release of a lot of emotional baggage that I have carried for a lot of years.  Indeed I saw real benefits in writing about things that I was struggling with, in that once I wrote about the struggle I was then able to let go of the issue and move on.  I know that journaling is often used by therapists to help people deal with past trauma.  To be clear, I certainly had some struggles growing up but it appears fairly evident by the length of my journaling habit I didn't have a lot of trauma to work through.  Certainly my childhood memories back up that theory.

A Shift

I believe it was somewhere in my second year of journaling that I started to see a shift in the tone of my writing.  Where initially I was using my writing to clear out old issues, I then found myself using the journals as simply a way to vent about my woes and troubles of the day.  I also used to journal first thing in the morning so what I found was that I was setting a very negative tone for my day, every day.  So my daily habit of journaling to clear out old negative thoughts and emotions had actually become a vehicle to deliver negativity right back into my life.

Eureka!

I don't remember what led to my light bulb moment when it occurred to me that my journaling had become a destructive habit in my life, but I'm really happy that it did happen.  Some time in this past late spring or early summer, as I was leafing through my old journals, I realized that reading these journals made me feel anything but uplifted.  In fact, they made me feel bad.  When I went out to the lake near the end of summer, I brought all my old journals with me and we used them to stoke the campfire at night.  And I felt good as all those books burned.  

However, I found that I missed the ritual of daily writing.  So I gave it some thought, did some research, and morphed my journaling into my daily gratitude log.  I now write at least one page in my gratitude log every night about all that I have to be grateful for.  And I never have any trouble finishing that page.  

2016 In Review

Now I find that going back and reviewing my logs leaves me feeling good.  Because it reminds me of all that I have to be grateful for. I only started my gratitude log in July so my year in review starts then.  

In July, I was blessed to be able to spend time at the lake for a couple of weeks, connecting with myself and also spending some time re-connecting with my daughter.  I was able to finish off a lot of content for my website that I would not have completed had I stayed in town doing my regular routine.

In early August, we spent the weekend at the lake enjoying family.  I started on the little yellow pill in late July so by mid to late August I was starting to see real benefit from the supplement.  In mid-August, I twisted my ankle and suffered a fairly serious ankle sprain.  Fortunately, I had a chiropractic treatment scheduled for that same morning so I was able to get immediate treatment that saw me recover from that sprain and get back to my running within 2 months.

In September I was blessed to attend Mastin Kipp's Wealthy Healer in Maui where I finally gave myself permission, and received the support that I needed to feel worthy to pursue my passion of helping people with their health.  I also connected with almost 3 dozen like-minded souls that I now consider permanent friends.  At this retreat I was introduced to Kundalini yoga, and immediately fell in love this form of yoga.

I also continued to see personal health improvements and saw my husband, who had started on the supplement in early September, start to sleep an unprecedented and uninterrupted 7 to 8 hours a night.  I continued to research the supplement and began to see the capabilities of this truly powerful supplement.

In October I was blessed to finally be able to run again.  I credit my supplements as well as a couple of excellent therapists who provided regular chiropractic care as well as therapeutic Thai massage.  I was also blessed to finally get my website up and running, thanks to my website designer as well as my daughter, who is an excellent resource for researching, critiquing and providing feedback on my website content as well as helping with the social media aspect of my business.

November delivered weather that we often see in September and October - and it was fabulous!  It was especially sweet because November can often be a really ugly month for weather here in this part of the world.  My health continued to improved, and I received a number of testimonials from new customers now benefiting from the products that I promote.  My skin finally reached the tipping point where I had more days in a month without breakouts - a huge victory for me - and a testament to my yellow pill as well as the skin care that contains that same Nrf2 technology.

December saw us winning a couple of times - free tickets to a local event, a new television at the annual Christmas function, and a nice chunk of change in a lottery draw - nothing life-changing, but enough to make us feel really good about ourselves.  We had a wonderful Christmas celebration with our children, their spouses, and our twin 2.5 year old granddaughters.   Shortly, we are also headed south for a vacation - something which we haven't had the luxury of for the past couple of years.

So, all in all, I have so much to be thankful about.  The past year, 2016, was not without its challenges.  But right now I really can't remember what they were.  At this time, all I can think is...thank you, I am so very grateful!!

B - The Healthy Guerrilla