As I sit here sipping my morning coffee in my sunroom observing the start of a glorious new day, pleasantly tired from my morning jog, I am extremely grateful for the many blessings in my life.
Apropos to the season, I am thankful for my life.
My heart is full and my mind contemplative. I am relaxed which is no small feat for me as a former self-proclaimed activity addict.
Over the past year, I’ve been learning to embrace slowing down and shedding the unnecessary “stuff” and activities from my life. I’ll turn 51 next month. I’m now closer to my death than I am to my birth. I’m ok with that.
My kiddos come home from college for their Thanksgiving break later today. We will be gastronomically overindulging at home this Thursday with our family of four and my mother. I can’t remember that last time I ate a Thanksgiving meal with my mom!
I scroll through the photos on my phone deciding it’s a good time to purge and make space for new ones.
I start with the oldest ones first and begin my journey down memory lane. The kids are young, in grade school. I reminisce about their sports days—volleyball for Jill and baseball and soccer for Drew. I smile at the photos. I watch oodles of sports videos and I purge, keeping the most meaningful ones.
I find photos and videos from a past family vacation to Costa Rica and laugh as I find the video of the taxi driver in Montezuma swearing at other cars in Spanish. Some new vocabulary for us.
I’m excited about our upcoming family vacation to Ecuador next month. I’m thankful that we all still have our COVID antibodies and we, barring unforeseen circumstances, will still be able to travel to the next country on our family bucket list. Planning family vacations are becoming harder as the kids begin their own independent life journeys with college, new careers, new relationships. Perhaps this will be the last one with just the four of us.
I breathe deep and slowly exhale. Everything is just as it should be.
My LIFE is just as it should be. Not perfect. What is perfect anyway but some overhyped, unattainable definition we’ve manufactured for ourselves? No, I’ll take acceptance over perfect any day.
In accepting the present moment for what it is, instead of resisting it, pain, anxiety, fear, and stress melt away.
There is no pain. There is no fear. There is no anxiety when I observe my thoughts and feelings and release my resistance to them.
Meditation and yoga have both become my close friends, my daily morning partners, as I rise to embrace each new day.
I’m slowly learning to unconditionally accept, love, and honor both my mind and my body.
My thoughts are just thoughts. That’s what the brain does. It’s wired to spew an endless stream of thoughts—some useful, many not so much. I observe them but am learning to not put so much stock in them. My thoughts are not me.
My body, oh where to begin? It’s fair to say that I’ve had a love-hate relationship with my body my entire life. I’m slowly learning to embrace the parts that I either try to ignore or have previously obsessed over. I listen to my body. Made up of a bazillion living cells, my body has its own wisdom if I learn to listen.
I suppose it’s fair to say that I’m undergoing a metamorphosis of spirit.
I savor my last few sips of coffee, now growing cold in the bottom of my mug and smile.
My mind is quiet, restful.
I resolve to carry this peace and deep seeded feeling of thankfulness into the upcoming week, amidst the hustle and bustle of my busy schedule and the upcoming holiday.
I remind myself that my life is a journey. A journey to be savored and embraced. A journey that unfolds moment by moment, neither good nor bad, with no expectation nor judgment.
It is what it is.
Everything is as it should be.
Kristen “Contemplative and Thankful This Morning” Marks
P.S. As always, thank you for reading my post. Admittedly the flavor was different today but, in my ongoing effort to be transparent about my life journey, I chose to share it anyway at the risk of judgment or misunderstanding by others.
Even with my evolving personal journey, my commitment to assisting my clients in getting their temporal affairs in order to protect themselves and their loved ones from unnecessary legal hassles, legal fees, and family conflict remains unwavering.
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