It’s day 3 and I feel good about it. I find it really hard to get out of bed in the mornings. Especially when I’ve only gotten about 5 hours of sleep (most weekdays for me). So I decided that rather than letting that experience set the tone for my day, I’m going to start with a sun salutation and a minute of gratitude. Most days I roll out and it’s still dark in my room, I take a deep breath and I begin. My favorite part is coming back to prayer and just staying there for a minute and just feeling gratitude. Even if I’m cranky, if I’m stressed because I snoozed one too many times, this is my one minute to shut it all out. It definitely helps me go about my day in a different way. For example, today I was sluggish and it felt like everything took longer than it should have (how long does it take to shave my legs?!). Now, usually, this would make me anxious and I would probably be rushing around with nervous energy until I got to work. And that’s not good because it means I’m driving in a hurry, I’m zipping by people on the metro somewhat carelessly, and I’m adding unnecessary stress to my life. However, this morning I decided that I didn’t care if I was running late. I was still feeling the warmth of gratitude and just went with it. And you know what happened? My day started off great.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~Albert Einstein

I am about to finish reading The Autobiography of a Yogi, a book that has touched me in so many ways, I can’t even begin to describe here. And this morning, as I sat reading on the metro, I read the most beautiful passage. It gave me goosebumps and I started to cry. Not because I was sad. Instead, for the first time in a while, I cried because I felt so happy. What I read gave me so much joy. I closed the book and sat there just taking in that moment. Two stops later I got up to leave. And the person next to me just smiled, got up, and said “have a beautiful day”. Now, if you take the metro during rush hour, or maybe ever, you know that this just doesn’t happen. We don’t make eye contact, we grunt, we avoid being nice to each other because we’re all in our own little world too worried about getting to our destination. Somehow this man got past all that and took a few seconds to say something nice to me. Because when we are open, and thankful, we start vibrating at a higher frequency. And others can feel that. I was reminded of that this morning. So maybe these two examples mean nothing to you. Maybe I’m choosing to believe that it is all related. So what? Maybe I created this. And I sure hope I keep creating many more moments like these every.single.day. Try it. Stop for a minute today and just say thanks. It doesn’t matter who you’re thanking, it doesn’t matter what you’re thankful for. Just allow yourself to have space for that feeling, and hold it. See if it makes a difference.