What are you grateful for?

At 11:11AM every day, I have an alarm that goes off, often at awkward times mid-conversation, but those awkward interjections turn into treasured gems of connection, as whoever is present has the opportunity to share from an honest and present place, what, in this very moment, they are grateful for.

Since it’s November 11th, or 11/11 at 11:11AM. That’s a lot of 11’s, so this seems an appropriate post 😉

This little mindfulness tradition started for me when I first met my friend and photography mentor, Pete Longworth. Along with a reminder to stop what I’m doing and take three deep breaths at 3:33PM each day, this little nugget of mindfulness has really been a blessing.

For much of the time when I began this practice, the answer was simply, “this!” with a waving of my hands, and a visual taking in of everything around me. I found myself in beautiful places, with incredible people, doing something I loved doing. After a few weeks of mostly “this!” it started feeling like a cop-out. Then it was the people that I was with, or family, or a myriad of other “easy things” to be grateful for. What is so beautiful now is that, yes, the simple things are still shown gratitude, but then to spend the time searching for other things…to take account for all of the good fortune that I have in my life. This added layer of depth has made me all the more conscious of the little miracles of life, and of my own existence.

I am so grateful to find myself surrounded with such inspiring, loving, deep, thoughtful, beautiful, creative, and caring people. My family. My friends. The new and incredible humans that I meet on a regular basis through my love of photography. That I can actually do something every day that I love. For all of this, and for so much more, I am forever grateful.

What are you grateful for?