Oh, hello there. It’s nice to see you again (and happy November!). I thought I’d pop in really quick to give you a heads up on what will be happening around here over the next month.
During a meeting at work today, we were going through an exercise in an attempt to help define what our personal core values were. One of the prompts was to write down the top dozen qualities you’d find in an ideal person. Not ideal as in perfect, but ideal as in the person you’d most like to be.
Among others, two of the qualities I wanted my ideal person to be were content and present.
My desire for more of those qualities in my life wasn’t surprising to me. I live in a dream world so often because I believe the lie that it’s so much better than my reality (it isn’t). Because of that, I often struggle with feeling discontent with my life.
As I was thinking about a tangible way I could practice being content and present in my life, practicing gratitude came to mind. And here’s the thing – I can’t be thankful for what my life holds if I’m not paying attention – paying attention to the small, the big, the good, the hard of life and engaging with it all.
So, for me, November is going to be about practicing contentment and being present in my life through paying attention, and documenting something I’m thankful for each day. That feels appropriate for the month of gratitude, yes?
I’ll be documenting those moments here, every day – mostly to give myself some accountability, but also because I hope you’ll join in! Some days may just be a photo and a few words, some days may be longer essays. But, my hope is that at the end of the month, present and content will replace fear and discontent as the normal default of my heart.
lindsay bixby 