Deepening Gratitude

I participate in a course with the amazing Debra Doerksen called The Divine Self. This week we discussed gratitude and how sometimes making a gratitude list can be a cerebral exercise that feels a little flat or maybe a little "typical". I admit, I do have a gratitude section in the daily journal I keep. I record the things I'm grateful for everyday like nature, my family, air conditioning, the dogs, my health, food...there is always something to be grateful for. Right?

Debra challenged us to find something that is beautiful every day. When we identify the beautiful thing, person or moment, we are to dig in to figure out why it is beautiful to us - what does it mean? how does it make us feel? The challenge is to really connect with our heart to feel the gratitude. Debra also challenged us to share the practice with others to create a ripple of beauty and gratitude.

I'm up for a challenge so for the month of July I have decided to share my one beautiful thing on this blog. daily. We will see how it goes.

OK, so here is July 1 - Rearguard Falls in British Columbia

Why is this beautiful to me?
- The powerful sound of the water filled my heart. It made me feel like I am part of something much bigger than myself. 
- The rushing water made me think about how life always moves on. Sometimes it moves faster than we want it to and it seems scary. But if you look further down the river the water slows down and gets much calmer. Sometimes life is tumultuous and sometimes it's calm. 
- The mist from the rushing water tickled my face, it made me smile and cooled me down.
- The rainbow is a reminder from the other side - they are with me no matter where I am.