Tag Archives: gratitude

Feeling Grateful for my Fabulous Friend Colleen

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We didn’t really have much of a plan for our travels in Costa Rica. We had a rough idea  of where we wanted to go, but we hadn’t really decided on where or when we would go places.

The only thing that was written in stone was that we needed to be in Nicaragua by February 24th to meet up with my friend Colleen.

Colleen and I go all the way back to high school. This means, that out of the vast majority of people in my life, she has known me the longest. I would also attest that she is one of the people who knows me the best.

During our travels, I had certainly thought about Colleen’s up coming visit, but it always seemed so far off in the distance. Plus, I was trying to live every day in the moment and not focus to much on what was coming up.

It wasn’t until the night before leaving for Nicaragua that it actually struck me that I was going to be seeing my friend for the first time in a very long time.

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Nothing could have prepared me for how wonderful it was to spend time with her.

When you are travelling, you spend so much time in your head. Although we often meet new people, the conversations you have with them tend to be superficial. Most travellers you meet are in and out of your life within a couple days.

And of course I have my lovely husband with me, and its been wonderful to have all of this time to talk together. But even I know there are limits to how many times I can tell him about my feelings and disclose what I’m grateful for. Poor guy, no wonder he surfs so much 😉

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So here we are, back at the idea of gratitude. I feel so thankful to have been able to spend four days with Colleen. We talked like crazy and caught up on everything that is going on in each others lives and in each others heads. She listened to all of my “big ideas” and had such a wonderful perspective on things. I’m left feeling even more excited about where our paths are taking us next.

Time spent with friends is now one of those things that I will never again take for granted.

So, the next time you are sitting with a friend, and having those conversations that friends have, take a moment and appreciate just how lucky you are to have them in your lives!

Pura Vida!

Kate

Follow on Twitter:@caketress

Today I Choose to be Thankful-An Exercise in Gratitude

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If you’ve been following my posts, you may have read about my new focus.

Instead of looking outward towards all the things I want to do with my life, I’m starting by looking inward, and becoming who I want to be.

I’m starting the process by focusing on gratitude. I thought I would share a little bit about what I’ve learned so far, and some of the steps I’m taking to move forward. 

There will be no exciting Costa Rica adventures in this post, but I promise tomorrow we will be back to our regularly scheduled programs. So, if you are still game, lets dive in.

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Weird thought…but have you ever thought about what it would be like to have no hands?

Think about it, right now, you have no hands. Can you imagine what your life would be like?

Or what about feet? What would your life be like if you had no feet?

Hands, and feet. Things we take for granted every day, yet they make our lives so much easier.

Often life can seem overwhelming. Everything is so big. There are decisions to make and schedules to keep, and we lose sight of the little things.

Like the fact that we have hands, and feet.

This is where my journey begins, remembering to be thankful. Not just for the big things, but the little ones as well.

So, right at this very moment. Think to yourself, what are you grateful for? It can be big, or it can be small, but make it your very own.

Got it?

Now how does it make you feel?

Good right?

Now hold onto that feeling, and really let it wash over you. Hold onto that feeling for as long as possible. Feel good?

This is the exercise that I’ve been doing for the past week. Whenever I feel myself feeling unmotivated, negative, down, or just unfocused, I take a moment to think about what I’m thankful for in that very moment. Then I work on harnessing that energy and keeping it with me.

I share it with you because it is working wonders for me. The more I do this exercise, the easier it is, and the longer the feeling lasts.

So, in keeping with the exercise, at this very moment I am grateful for you. That’s right, you, right there, I know you are reading this!

Whether we’ve met in person, or simply through the blog, I am thankful for your presence. Being able to share my adventures, insights and learnings through this blog has been such an amazing part of my journey. The encouragement, light and love I’ve received from my readers is something that fills me with gratitude, and makes me smile.

So thank you all for being my current happy thought!

If you are interested in reading more about gratitude, check out Pathway to Happiness. This is the site I found the gratitude exercise on, as well as many other valuable teachings.

So now the big question…what are you grateful for?

Pura Vida

Kate

Follow me on Twitter:@caketress