Gratitude: One Little Word 2012

Then:
After a focus on simplicity in 2010 and on embrace in 2011, I extended into gratitude in 2012 for my one little word. I recognized that aside from maintaining a positive attitude throughout the range of life's experiences that I wanted to take it a step further and be grateful for each of those contexts. I knew this year would include powering through my dissertation. I was also mid-way through an academic year in which I had taken a leave of absence from my middle school position in order to fill in for a sabbatical replacement at the university while completing my doctoral program. It was a time of reflecting on whether I would make a permanent transition to teacher education or whether I would go back to my K-12 context.

I was also focusing on what brought me joy in everyday life in my different roles, as well as the things that brought me small comforts like a warm chai latte warming my hand. During this year I also had a shift in recognizing that I had a propensity to stress and worry too much about things of little importance. There was a song in Spanish that resonated with me that said "I remember her being worried about things that mean nothing today."

Now:
In 2012 I recognized that my words of simplicity, embrace and gratitude had helped me to shape my outlook on life, keep things in perspective, and prioritize what I cared about most. Every word after has extended upon these concepts in one way or another, helping me to explore different angles and nuances of the concepts.

When thinking back now on the connection between embracing and being grateful for an experience, I can still see how they are very similar. I know there are nuanced differences that I do not fully understand yet and as a result, cannot explain. Yet, I am starting to grasp some layers of it. However, my current ponderings including how it appears that embracing is connected with a willingness to suffer or seeing value in suffering, while being grateful means we welcome the sufferings at a whole new level. Rather than just bearing the sufferings, we feel thankful for them, especially in the context of recognizing they are opportunities that can help purify us.

Paying attention to what brings me joy in life is still deeply engrained in who I am and it is something that I have been discussing with my oldest who is now 14. We talk about how happiness is a choice and how it is important to notice what brings happiness. While I have swapped out a warm chai warming my hand as my go to comfort in lieu of silence, especially when in the presence of the Lord at the church, I am still tuning in to what fills me and what drains me as an intentional part of my one little word from last year (2017). In this way words between years interact with each other and extend upon each other.