I woke up this morning feeling incredibly grateful.

I didn’t get a full night’s sleep (not even half).

I wasn’t going anywhere special (quote the opposite).

I hadn’t won the lottery or a big prize.

My life is pretty much the same today as it was yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.

And yet I felt happy. And still do as I write this a couple of hours later.

I am grateful for my kids, my husband, my mom, my family and friends, meaningful work, and not so meaningful work, nature, my home and community, technology…pretty much everything.

I did not somehow conjure up this gratitude. Nor have I been practicing gratitude regularly or intentionally.

Today seems like some sort of fluke. Like gratitude found me and graced me with her presence this morning. I wonder, maybe it doesn’t have to be a fluke. Maybe waking up this way is possible everyday.

We can seek more money and more things in our lives. Fill up our houses and storage units with endless piles of stuff. But nothing compares to feeling how I do now – with light, love, non-attachment, wonder, appreciation, kindness, hope and all that is good.

Forget all the stuff, give me more of this.

When I catch the news and see the awful things happening around the world, I find myself asking – “Why?” What did those people do to deserve that? How does this fit into the whole order of the world? What does it mean that I have this life and they don’t?

It can become a pretty fast, slippery slope of existential questioning.

Ultimately, I am in no position to speculate why others face the lives they do and whether or not they deserve one thing or another or I deserve one thing or another. This is not about minding my own business but more so not trying to feign some sort of understanding about the world that I don’t have any grasp on.

I don’t have a defined idea of who my “God” is and think myself the equivalent of a Muggle when it comes to trying to understand the bigger picture. All I can do is be the best version of me each and every day, help others as much as I can along the way and raise little ones to embrace their mortal, curious, creative, magnificent selves.

I would benefit from daily reminders to go with the flow.

Going to the acupuncturist today, we talked about resistance and the inability to go with the flow.

I find my inability to go with the flow is not so fun (especially for the kids). Being more strict and uncompromising puts a damper on the party.

Digging deeper, I realize the issue is being uncomfortable with not having control.

Most of the people I know like having control. I’m pretty sure it s a universal human thing, and so much of what we do is because of the desire of control.

The biggest thing people try to control is the thing we are all heading towards (death). But the other things we want to really control are the things that would hurt our egos and inner child like losing money, being fired and not having friends.

Part of the history of my desire for control is due to the lack of autonomy in my choices as a child.

Whatever it is that you desire control over, consider this your reminder to go with the flow today.

I want humans to live with a balance of the feminine and masculine within us.

This is not about sexuality or gender, it’s about the energetic qualities.

Like the yin yang symbol where the whole is a balance and mix of black and white. And then, within the black section, there is a little bit of white and in the white section, there is a little bit of black.

We are not all or nothing, and we were never meant to live with binary thinking. Seeing nuances is our gift and when we can embrace that, the world becomes much more colorful.