PEBBLE
It’s up to us to choose contentment and thankfulness now, and to stop imagining that we have to have everything perfect before we’ll be happy.
~Joanna Gaines, shared by Kara in Pewaukee, WI
BOULDER
It is easy to be grateful when things are going our way. But to exercise the mental discipline to be grateful in the face of setbacks, I have found, is one of the great experiences that give you that resilience and the opportunity to see your life, to see your community and the world much more broadly, and to keep going.
~Hillary Clinton, shared via Grateful Living
PONDER
My initial instinct when Kara of Pewaukee first submitted today’s Pebble a few days ago was to save it until Thanksgiving, apparently skipping over the obvious invitation to “choose contentment and thankfulness now.” A few hours later, today’s Boulder landed in my inbox. This seemed like a clear signal from The Universe: “Thankfulness now, Mr. Ripples. THANKFULNESS NOW!”
Message received, Kind Universe. MESSAGE RECEIVED! I realize it might be tempting for us to consider gratitude a bit too fluffy and/or unrealistic to bother with during tough times. That’s what makes today’s Boulder so insightful, framing gratefulness as a mental discipline that can fuel our resilience and our persistence.
If life seems particularly challenging right now, please pause long enough to take a deep breath (Here Now!), and see if you can spot something good in your life despite the yuck. When you’re feeling a little more centered, I invite you to take this to the next level and see if it is possible to be grateful for the yuck itself. This may seem like a stretch, but I promise you: it is possible to experience life as frustrating while also seizing these difficulties as opportunities for growth. Possible, and worthwhile, too.
