Today I woke up grateful. Grateful for people, places and things. Yes, things. My head has been fighting the word gratitude for a few days now. How can we find good in everything that happens to us? I mean really, you spill your protein shake all down your white jacket and you are not supposed to get pissed off? I am supposed to find a lesson in there somewhere??? I have lived my life by the Law of the Universe for several years now, and I can tell you it changed me, and everyone who loves me. But I can also tell you some days I want to sucker punch that damn universe.

Anyway, back to the grateful part. I woke up today feeling overwhelmed by gratitude. I am so very thankful for the people who are in my life that truly love me and see my value and know my worth. That doesn’t mean they think I am perfect, but they know I am perfectly flawed. I am thankful for the people that used me, lied to me, stole from me, and disrespected me. The strangers who cough on me in stores, the girls in high school who called me hambone, and turkey leg. I am grateful for all the sucky stuff that happened to me growing up. I am thankful to anyone who ever told me I couldn’t do something. Now for the places. Places help us grow and learn, some places help us step out of our comfort zone and feel uncomfortable. Jillian Michaels says you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. She is right. I am going on a duck hunt with one of my clients in a few weeks, I’ve never done that and I am really uncomfortable about it, but I know it will help me grow. Then I have to do some crazy fast indoor go kart racing with another customer, I don’t like to go fast anymore, but I am going to allow the experience to happen. Places are great. Sometimes home is the best place. I have recently been spending time in a place I love to call home. The comfort of the paint colors, the smell of the furniture, the creaking sounds the hardwood floors make. Man I am grateful for that place. And then there are things,  they say not to idol things, and I don’t, but I sure am grateful for my Wonder Woman mug that convinces me I have a lasso of truth and invisible jet waiting for me in the drive. I am grateful for comfy bed, my white leather jacket that makes me believe I am a rock star even if I only wear it to Walmart or the local Elks club. Rock stars have Walmart lists too.

Now back to the my head has been struggling to find good in everything part. Is there good in death? Is there good animal cruelty? Recent events have had me on the fence about turning negatives into positives. Sometimes life just plain stinks like egg salad farts. That’s right, I said egg salad farts. How am I grateful for those?? Well, I happen to like egg salad. So guess the end result is something I just accept. Part of the Law of attraction (and in my opinion it’s just plain common sense) is that you get what you send out. Good gets good, bad gets bad. But what happens when you send out all this good, and other people are sending out all of this bad?? I think I have figured it out. They meet in the cosmic atmosphere and do a little bare knuckle boxing, then the bad someone else sent out accidently falls into the sky and lands in your lap. Then you have to deal with it. Ok, this is where the old lemon thing comes in handy. You have sent out all this good and lived your life as if it was already happening then all of the sudden you have a bowl of lemons and no vodka to make Vodkade. What do you do?????

You just breathe. Realize you are going to be ok, and don’t let the fact that your lemonade is alcohol free keep you from drinking it. Roll with it, accept it. When you don’t get want you want, accept it for what it is. Don’t try to change it, don’t try to change people to be who you need them to be. Accept them at their word. Let bad things happen to you. Yes, say thank you. Because maybe, just maybe, in order to get where you need to be, you have to struggle first. You have to dig the hole to get the water. You have to do some hard work to win the prize. Things that happen to us, DO happen for a reason. And anyone who has ever lost a loved one will cuss me right now, but it is true. There are lessons in everything. Maybe you were a bad person in your past, and you lost yourself, and others that cared for you because you sucked at life. You can blame then for leaving you, or you can find the lesson to be learned there. To do better. Be better. And then go out and do it. And those people who matter, they will see it, and they will know what you have done. Those are the people we are thankful for. The ones who taught us how to treat them.

I really think that being grateful for all that happens takes one key element that most of us can’t seem to find. Acceptance. Accept that it is what it is. Accept that your bank account is low, and be grateful you have one. Accept that your legs are chubby and meaty and not ballerina legs, and be grateful that you have them. Accept that you didn’t have a father figure in your life to help mold your character, and be grateful that you still have character. Accept that not everyone will like you, or see the truth in you, and be grateful for the ones that do. ACCPETANCE. Let it be what it is. Don’t try to change it, twist it or fanaticize  that it will be different. Just accept it.

Ok maybe there is another element. Choice. We are all control freaks right?? So we want things to always go our way. Well consider the choices you make to get there. You choose to do things that can jeopardize your happiness. If you say you want one thing, then make the CHOICE to do another, then don’t bitch and moan when you don’t have what you want. Life is choices. We are tempted to make bad choices all of the time. If you are trying to eat healthy but you keep ordering fried pickles every time you go out to eat, then for heaven’s sake don’t feel sorry for yourself when your Silvers don’t zip up, ACCEPT that you made that CHOICE.  See how that works??

 

Life is really short. People are really stubborn. Choices are everywhere. Make good ones. Accept the bad ones, and don’t fall victim to your bad choices. Sometimes people in your life will never stop reminding you of your bad choices. Don’t get in the boat with them. It will sink, fast. CHOOSE to be happy. Spend your life with who you love. Don’t wait around for apologies you will never get, ACCEPT that. Be thankful for ALL that happens to you.

Love without fear

Live without fences

Laugh with your mouth wide open

Forgive without resentment

Eat egg salad

Say what you mean

Don’t lie to make someone feel better

Accept your choices, good and bad

Choose wisely

Treat kindly

Drink Vodkade