Thirty days of gratitude~Day one

 Pilgrims in Juquila, Oaxaca coming to ask the Virgencita for a favour~in 2008 we visited the virgen and asked for some favours of our own. Marco wrote about our experience here .

I will be ever grateful for her response and in Dec 2015 we plan to return, as is the custom, to give thanks for our milagros.

Sienna in 2008 looking at the crosses of pilgrims who have returned to give thanks for wishes that have been granted.

I've been thinking a lot about gratitude lately, 

sometimes it's overwhelming......in the best way.

and yet I still find myself losing perspective at times

part of being human I guess...

and so today in a flash (not a hot one, although I have been getting my fair share of those!), after a very lucid glimpse into an exciting future idea

I have decided to engage in another thirty days of blogging,

this time to reflect on the myriad of people, places and happenings

that bring me such an incredible sense of gratitude.

I invite you to embark upon this journey with me and I promise you,

 that if you do,

you will be richer for it....

We have a dinner ritual, Marco, Santana, Sienna and I,

we've been doing it for years and I have to admit,

that for many years Marco got this whole gratitude thing

so deeply

and I tagged along, sometimes unwillingly, begrudgingly

I thank this man, my heart, from the bottom of my heart

for allowing me the space to unfold, in my own time.

each night before we eat, the four of us recount two things that we are grateful for, 

whether we are tired or grumpy, angry or ecstatic. 

Two things.

There have been times that I'm sure the girls wished that we didn't have this ritual.

 Like the first time a 17 year old boyfriend comes for dinner (he'll think its weird!) or the times when we've just had a big family explosion; "I'm grateful for my room and closed doors!!" hehe.....

and yet I do believe that it is a ritual that the girls will take with them

 and it is one that I am now not afraid to share with my hosts when I stay with them. 

What a freedom to no longer worry " will they think I'm strange?"

"What other people think of me is none of my business. One of the highest places you can get to is being independent of the good opinions of other people." - Dr. Wayne Dyer

What a freedom to be becoming wholeheartedly myself and to be letting go (little by little) of the worry about what others will think. This has been a lesson very long in coming!

I am SUPER grateful for that one ♥

a couple more things I'm grateful for today~:)

water and the ability to drink it, swim through it, float on it, cleanse my body inside and outside with it.

 Dancers from Santo Domingo Teojomulco, Oaxaca, 2008. 

Santana, at 15, even got a marriage proposal from one handsome 19 year old. 

We politely explained that in Australia our children wait a little longer for marriage. 

He smiled understandingly and asked if we could bring her back in two years and he would wait for her :)

diversity and the richness that it offers us when we are open to experience people, places and things outside of our norm. The bliss and wonder of an encounter with someone who believes differently to you and the healing that can occur when our minds are open enough to understand that there are many paths up the mountain.

 

man with an iguana on his head~ Vanvouver, Canada 2008.

Our girls and the way they have  grown together, both of them so different, yet seeking to understand and support each other, not always friends, but unmistakably sisters. 

What a joy to watch them grow into beautiful, caring, kind, creative, strong spirited young women.

Our family~my heart is full and overflowing ♥♥♥

What are you grateful for today?

I would love to hear

until tomorrow
lots of love
Tracy xox ♥