On the way to school I asked everyone to think of things they were really grateful for – no wrong answers. The littles all did great, and their answers were sweet and genuine – toys, friends, last week of school, etc…

When it was my turn, I took it seriously and dug deep for my answers.

One at a time we all named off things we were grateful for…and the feeling in the car shifted…genuinely. At one point when talking about how grateful I was for my parents, my heart filled with the purest type of teary, joy.

When it was my grumpy teenager’s turn- she was neither serious nor sweet (she’s a hell of a lot like me- not much faking going on). She was not feeling it at all. But that was totally fine. I meant it when I said “no wrong answers”.

Turns out, my impromptu game is a lesson for me to learn again, and again… and AGAIN, apparently. The feeling we are all searching for can always be found within, and our openness to finding it does, in fact, matter.

Yes, we do naturally slip into peace, love, contentment, and happiness because our true self (peace, love, contentment, happiness) is bound to seep out from time to time without any effort. When we are open to it – it flows out freely from the inside. But even when we are not open to it,  it will inevitably find a crack to come through. It just works a little harder to make it’s way to the surface.

When we realize what we are made of (peace, love, contentment, happiness), being open becomes less of a to do, and more of a natural guide home.

And today my guide showed up in the form of gratefulness.

With all my love,