It’s pretty easy by Thursday evening to feel more than drained. A bit of gratitude goes a long way. This week, I’m grateful for abundance. Another blogger recently wrote about how we must acknowledge the abundance in our lives in order to create more… And, I have to admit, it is pretty humbling to stop and realize how much abundance most of us already have.
Tuesday, when I was home sick, I spent the better part of the morning digging through the past year of pictures to decide what to put on our holiday card, (yes, even when I’m sick I feel the need to cross something off my to-do list). As the last 12 months rolled by, I was struck by how even during years of fiscal conservatism my life is full of so many fortunate, happy moments.
Sure it would be nice to have that money to fly to Sweden to visit my cousin or to feel more economically secure or to… The list goes on, but really none of those things would change the fact that my life is already full. I worried that giving up a third of my income to become a teacher would create a life that felt less abundant, but that could not be further from the case. I now have more time to enjoy abundance as well as a completely different definition of the word.
Tonight I am grateful for the abundance in my life: my family, friends, dog, cat, house, job, coworkers, students, food, yoga, travel, writing, love… My life is incredibly full, especially when I take the time to stop and look. If you haven’t flipped through your 2012 pictures lately, you should. Talk about life compressed into a few captured moments. Abundance, abundance, abundance.
I’ll leave you with a few of my favorite moments from this year. It was hard to pick.
oliviaobryon 
Love the blog and photos!
Thanks for including us in what turned out to be some of my favorite moments this year 🙂
I love this Olivia! Your photos are perfect! And you are so right…nothing like looking through brief snapshots of the year to be reminded of all the goodness in life! Your thoughts are inspiring as always!
Thanks for the encouraging words Ashley 🙂
Great point about how a career change that lowered your salary gave you more time to enjoy abundance. I guess if you had to choose money or time, I would always take time–time to enjoy my kids who are growing up so fast, time to look inside, time to read great posts like this one.
Agreed, time wins. 🙂
Lately, I’ve been thinking that I haven’t had such a great year…However, wondering which photos I’d include in my own slideshow made me smile, and realize what great memories I am taking away from this year, despite the hardships. Thank you for the reminder 🙂
Glad it was a good reminder 🙂 Was the same for me. This year has been tough in a lot of ways, but it has also been wonderful in a lot of ways too. Pictures help to put it in perspective! 😀
You are so correct. and yet there are those whose only satisfaction in life seems to come from telling us we are somehow evil for living in and being thankful for abundance. I’ll never figure those sad people out.
Yes, that I don’t get either.
I discovered your blog when I read your comment to my blog; love this entry; pictures and memories can help us realize the abundance we have; I think it is so important to realize what we have even when we want other things; I live in NY, and so many people lost their homes, jobs, lives, etc., and this made me realize more how blessed I am and to be happy with what I have.
I can’t begin to imagine what it must feel like to put back together your lives on the East Coast right now. I admire your ability to put it all in perspective. Thanks again for sharing your yoga experiences with kids– inspires me in my own classroom!
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[…] Translator, Joy and Woe, The Temenos Journal, Rarasaur, Dianne Gray, Bodhisattvaintraining, and Oliviaobryon. If I left anyone out, I humbly apologize–cutting and pasting URLs has given me a glue […]
¸.•*¨*•.♪♫♫♪Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you! .♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸ ♥
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Thank you for connecting! 🙂