Grat­i­tude

“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

Pref­ace:  Ran­dom Acts of Kick Arse is a move­ment to bring more of {monthly theme} into our lives, and the lives of those around us. 

Jan­u­ary Theme:  Grat­i­tude.  Find ways to incorporate/see more grat­i­tude in the world.

The Results:  Grat­i­tude.  Would I find myself being more grate­ful?  Might I rec­og­nize those moments in my day where oth­ers were show­ing grat­i­tude toward myself or oth­ers?  Would I just feel an extra sense of aware­ness toward the grat­i­tude going on all around and within me?

I’m com­ing to a real­iza­tion with RAOKA.  It’s easy to focus on the monthly topic in chunks.  Extend­ing those chunks out over the whole month, that is another story altogether. 

And so it goes.  There were moments where I was more aware of both the grat­i­tude around me, and in my own expres­sion of grat­i­tude toward oth­ers.  And then there were all the other moments, where I was in my “nor­mal” state.  Per­haps this is all part of a greater learn­ing moment for me, as I see that with­out planned aware­ness, I all too eas­ily find myself at MY sta­tus quo. 

This monthly review, though, would not be com­plete with­out rec­og­niz­ing a spe­cial some­one who is a reg­u­lar vis­i­tor here, and some­one I also call a dear friend.  Robin Eas­ton, from Naked in Eden, has a way of express­ing grat­i­tude like I have never expe­ri­enced before. 

From a recent comment:

Lance, I just want to thank you again for being part of my jour­ney. I am blessed beyond mea­sure. Know that your pres­ence ALWAYS leaves me feel­ing more whole in so many many ways. I wish you all the good­ness that you ARE. I encour­age you to keep liv­ing Life full-on in every way you can. As I’ve said before, you have a great des­tiny. You ARE a great destiny.

Much love to you dear sweet Lance and all my bless­ings to your fam­ily.
 Love, Robin

This is one exam­ple, one of so many, where Robin’s sweet and car­ing words reach out and touch another soul deeply.  Every time our paths cross, there is a depth of grat­i­tude like I have never expe­ri­enced before.   And the thing is, she opens her heart and shares so freely.  It’s not like I have done any­thing dif­fer­ent, and yet, I am blessed with words that lift me high.  Words that carry me through the day (and week).  Words that make me want to be a bet­ter per­son.  The power of real and mean­ing­ful gratitude…

Read Robin’s lat­est piece, The Power of Our Beliefs.  There is such deep and car­ing grat­i­tude in there.  Again, this is only one exam­ple of every­thing that is her being.  And her com­ments are filled with an out­pour­ing of emo­tion and car­ing.  Why is it that?  It’s because reg­u­lar vis­i­tors know that Robin cares.  And lis­tens.  And responds with com­pas­sion and love.

Robin, dear friend, you have found a way to take love, care, hope, and com­pas­sion to the depth of your soul.  And in that, you touch so many oth­ers at this deep soul level.  Your spirit is filled with the deep­est and most pro­foundly car­ing grat­i­tude that I have ever expe­ri­enced.  I know also that I speak for so many that know you, that have been touched by your lov­ing care, of how much that means to them, and of how much that means to me.  Robin, con­tinue to be you, to shine beau­ti­fully into the hearts of oth­ers.  And know that it is my hope that I can, even to some tiny degree, give some of that back to you.  With deep and car­ing love and grat­i­tude to you, Robin, for your pres­ence in my life…

I also have a guest post up today, with Peggy Nolan, from Serendip­ity Smiles.  I met Peggy sev­eral months back, and was moved by her life story — one filled with hope and possibility. 

In the piece I share today, I touch upon a per­sonal story from a time when I was deeply grate­ful for an ele­va­tor return­ing back to the ground floor.  Please join me, in Going Up. 

Peggy, thank you so much for invit­ing me over to share your beau­ti­ful space.   

What is Ran­dom Acts of Kick Arse (RAOKA)?  With the idea that there are so many ways we can do small things to change the world for good, Sami, from Life, Laughs, and Lem­mings took an idea she had and cre­ated this move­ment.  The move­ment:  A new theme to focus on each month, bring­ing a lit­tle more good to the world.  The move­ment started in Octo­ber 2009, and has a core group of participants:

Lori from Jane Be Nim­ble
Dani from Pos­i­tively Present
Gayze  from Gazehound’s Ani­mal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion
Zeenat from Pos­i­tive Provo­ca­tions
Sami from Life, Laughs, and Lem­mings
Jan­nie from Jan­nie Funster

Each month a topic will be cho­sen to focus on, and then at the start of the next month, the par­tic­i­pants will write about their expe­ri­ences from the pre­vi­ous month.

Note: We’ve had a cou­ple of core RAOKA mem­bers exit the group due to other com­mit­ments (thanks so much guys for being found­ing mem­bers) and as such, have 2 reg­u­lar and enthu­si­as­tic con­trib­u­tors to this move­ment tak­ing their place; Gayze from Gayzehound’s Ani­mal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Zeenat from Pos­i­tive Provocations.

Inter­ested in join­ing the move­ment?  Con­tact Sami for details.

Feb­ru­ary Theme:  Pas­sion (as cho­sen by Dani)

Logo cour­tesy of Melissa from Oper­a­tion NICE

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