Today is a Blessing Day.
I try to make everyday a Blessing Day, but don't always succeed.
What is a Blessing Day you ask? Well, it is a day where I am mindful of all the blessings in my life. As I move into this new, more mindful way of life, I am trying to be more aware of everything joyful, peaceful and exciting about my life. I understand now that my thoughts have an enormous impact on my physical self. I try to acknowledge the negative, not to dwell on it, but to realize that it is there and figure out a way to release it and not let it control me. The better I get with this way of thinking, the more peaceful my life becomes, more positive people come into my life, and more enjoyable experiences come my way.
So with possibly loosing my keys at a big outdoor event on the weekend (I say possibly because I thought I had lost my work keys for almost two weeks only to find them hidden really well in my backpack), I find myself trapped in my apartment until my partner gets home. Before, this situation would have been upsetting. I was planning on going up to the library to look at knitting books and hopefully visit my friend who is completing an internship there for her BA in Library Sciences. Now I cannot do this without leaving the apartment unlocked and not being able to get back into the building unless I break into my apartment through the window.
However, being trapped in my apartment is really a blessing. I am always on the go. Always working, even though I am not salaried, or hunting down ingredients to pre-cook safe meals, etc. If I take time to sit down and knit, I always make sure I am doing something else at the same time - watching a movie off of my waiting list, or listening to an audio book. If I don't I tend to feel like I am being lazy or self indulgent, and for some reason still to be understood, that makes me feel incredibly guilty for taking time for myself.
Today however, by being trapped in my apartment, I am being forced to slow down. It is wonderful. I worked like mad on the weekend. My work place had a tent up at a big music festival, which meant I ended up working 12 hour days between being at the event, and then balancing out afterwords. I am physically drained from that. This is an imposed rest day and it was super nice being able to sleep in and not feel guilty about not getting the shopping done as soon as the grocery store opened so I could get the cooking done before taking time to blog, knit, watch tv/movies, watch online course, etc....
And it lets me think about all the things in my life to get grateful for:
My ability to knit, crochet and sew. I have the ability to clothe myself and others. As I learn more about each craft, I build confidence in myself and don't worry if others think I am asking for too much money to give up my free time to make or alter something for them. I don't rely on these skills for my living so I don't end up under-charging for my time and effort.
I am grateful for my food allergies. Yes, it is bothersome, and extremely scary, to eat out at a restaurant, but it is also wonderful that I have to build up my cooking and baking skills to a level that was considered normal only a generation or two ago. I can feed myself and my BF good food, that is often 100% organic since more certified gluten-free ingredients are also certified organic. Before I thought I just couldn't afford to go organic, and did not quite understand just how much healthier it really was until we had to make the switch. My fish allergies did not really have a big impact on our eating habits, but the gluten intolerance did, and led to this wonderful new aspect of my life.
I am grateful for being on a tight budget. Sure I would love to make more money so we could travel more, but my making one and a half times less money than my BF forced us to more into a more affordable apartment. The apartment we ended up in is a bit awkwardly spaced, because it is a basement suite in a 100 year old building where they clearly did not plan on putting suits in the basement, but we are living a little bit more in my budget, which helps me to have some play money after paying off bills and student loan payments.
It also let me finally get a cat! Since we are in the basement suite of a really old building, we had mice. They were non-existent while the neighbor had a cat, but when they moved, the mice showed up. Craig got fed up with fighting them, and wasting money on food, that he finally gave in to my wish for a cat. I sent him to look at an older black female cat that was "on sale" from the shelter because she was there for so long, but Craig fell in love with a different cat. He picked out a grey tabby male cat who was three years old. I got my older cat, and he got the cat he liked. By including Craig in the cat-buying process, he is much more attached to the cat than I expected. And we lucked out with Agent Coulson. His fur is so silky that it doesn't bother Craig's allergies.
Agent Coulson is an enormous blessing! Besides ridding the apartment of mice on day 1, he has such an interesting personality. He is not the "boring" or "annoying" kitty as Craig feared we would end up with. He is so funny and entertaining and brings a shared joy to our lives that I cannot imagine life without him now. I knew that would happen, but it is a new experience for Craig and I am grateful that he now understands just how much of a blessing being a pet owner can be.
There are so many more things I am grateful for, but today these are the ones that keep popping into my thoughts. I will take the time to acknowledge them, to contemplate them and to really appreciate them as I rest up from a physically and emotionally taxing weekend.
With Peace and Love,
Heather
