Be Grateful. Be Kind.

As I sit here on a cold winter’s night, propped up in bed with pillows and under warm, snuggly blankets.  I think about how grateful I am for my life.

I got to wake up this morning.  How unbelievably awesome is that!?!  Many were not so lucky.

I got to work on doing something I love that brings me income.  So many are still unemployed or work at jobs that they hate.

I got to meet with an old friend for a coffee.  Friendship is a gift that is lost to many.

I got my hair cut and coloured.  I live in a time and place where pinkish hair is not so strange after all.  Many are not free to express themselves publicly in this way.

I got to drive my car, eat my lunch (from a fridge FULL of food), spend time with my teenage son, take him to a physiotherapy appointment (covered by insurance) and then go and purchase a heater so I can stop complaining that my feet are cold.

These are gifts!  Things the we don’t recognize as being important.  But they are.  They really are.

There are so many people out there that don’t have these opportunities.  They are isolated, they are cold (it is minus 25 out there today!) They are depressed, lonely, suffering.  They are living in war-torn countries, they are hurting and they are hungry.  And so, even if taking care of them is not your top priority, please don’t let it be your last.  And please don’t make it ok for them to be further harmed by scorn, judgement and ridicule.  

I have believed for a long time that if we are not grateful for what the already have, why on earth do we deserve anything else.  

Appreciate what you have.  

Because to quote one of my songwriting hero’s Don Henley “In a New York Minute everything can change”

Be grateful.

Be kind.