YES to gratitude {on being positive}

the you are not alone locket

Every now and then someone who has found me via Pinterest will comment on a pin or send me a note that says something like this, "How are you so positive all the time?" 

And in my head, my reaction is often, "Oh honey, if you only knew me."

But last Friday, as I was hammering lockets and pendants that will be going out across the miles this holiday season, I was thinking about this question. And the truth is when I push past that immediate need to hide a little or worry about what you would think if you saw the real "messy" me on a daily basis, this is what I find resting inside this idea of being positive:

I do believe that most of us are all doing the best we can each day. I believe that we each have hard stuff in our lives. Sometimes that hard stuff is huge and literally about life and death. Other times that hard stuff is the daily living stuff that piles up and feels heavy.

And in the midst of all of this, we want to know we are not alone. We want to know that we are loved.

Being someone who creates talismans that serve as a tangible reminder that we are not alone on this crazy, awesome, messy journey has become a way for me to be in touch daily with what I believe.

The act of literally hammering phrases like "I am enough" and "You are not alone" and "I am brave" and "hope lives here" and "deeply loved" pushes me to believe these things even on the hard days.

I am pushed to believe them because I know you believe them. How do I know? I've hammered thousands, yes thousands, of necklaces during the past few years filled with these phrases and words of the year and prayers.

And I've shared stories and quotes and other good things over on Pinterest and you keep saying, "Yes" and "Me too" and reaching out to say that you look at my pins each morning as you drink your coffee because they help you begin your day with a positive feeling in your heart.

You give me the gift of believing so that I know I am not alone over here holding onto these truths...tucking them into my pockets as I go about my day...as I experience the ebb and flow, the beauty and the mess, that each day brings. 

Thank you for this gift. I'm so blessed to do what I do each day.

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude {an hour steeped in it}

This morning, the house was quiet. I found myself slipping into the overwhelm about the to-do list, about the blog post ideas I had yesterday that I forgot to write down, about so many other things. I took a deep breath and decided getting in the shower would clear my head.

But instead, the ideas and "you should do it this way" thoughts started swirling. My shoulders were hunched and I could feel my face frowning.

So I turned my face toward the water and let it fall over me. Breathing. Noticing.

And I started to just make a list of gratitude in my mind. For this warm water. For the time I have alone in this moment. For the warmth of my home. For the strength I feel in my body today. For the ways I know how to take care of myself. For the kind voice Ellie used this morning. For the sound of my mother's laughter after Ellie handed the phone back to me when they talked before school. For Millie, curled up on the floor outside the bathroom door. For the way the soap lathered in my hands and felt on my body.  

When my mind would start to wander, I would pretend I was in a meditation and greet the thought (literally saying, "hello over there. I see you. I'm coming back to gratitude.") and take a breath and begin listing again. 

As I got out of the shower, I just kept practicing. 

For this favorite sweater and shoes that help my feet not hurt while I stand in the shower. For the notes my customers have been including with their Soul Mantra orders. For the warmth of this favorite brown rice tea. For the smell of this raisin bread as it toasts. For the silliness of licking the last bit of peanut butter off the knife. For the sound of the rain on the patio roof as I walk to the studio. For this sacred place of my own. 

And I didn't want to stop. I felt lighter. I started to cross to the computer to check email, but decided I wasn't ready to come back to that abyss of "to do" and instead took out my gratitude postcards and got to writing.

Letting this lightness I was feeling transfer to notes that will be sent across the miles. To an uncle I haven't talked to in years. To a friend who was such a kind listener while I was pregnant. To a new friend who teaches me with her open-hearted ways. To the friend whose known me for more than 20 years and still sticks around. 

And I felt rebooted. At home inside. Ready to be open again, stepped in gratitude, self-kindness, and love.

Yes.

A Gratitude Prompt: Consider spending an hour or even just five minutes steeped in gratitude. Noticing the truths of this moment. Noticing what you hold in your heart. Noticing the light that comes from paying attention to what makes your life so full of beauty (even in the messy times).

*****

I'm using artist Lori Portka's A Month of Thank Yous Gratitude Kit to send these notes of gratitude out into the world this month. There are 30 different postcards in the kit, so you are actually getting 30 small prints on gorgeous, thick, easy-to-write on cardstock. 

Lori's offering my readers a 15% discount this month with the code THANKFUL (just put the code in right above your order total on the shopping cart page).

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude {I want to remember...}

I want to remember how excited you are to wear your rainboots so you can walk in the water and explore.

I want to remember that you asked about Millie's family and listened thoughtfully as I explained I didn't know her dog family but that Daddy and I rescued Millie from a human family that didn't want her anymore for reasons we don't know or understand. We talked about how much we love her and are glad that she's part of our family.

I want to remember the moments when I realized you know almost every word to the first stanza of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" and just about every word of Of Monsters and Men's "Little Talks." I want to remember how your little voice was singing along with such joy as you painted.

I want to remember how much you love Grandma Fina's pasta sauce and often remind me that it is the best pasta sauce in the whole wide world.

I want to remember the way you talk to the little babies at school and how you gently touch them and say, "Good morning."

I want to remember the excitement you had on your face when you said, "Come on Mama and Daddy, be in a band with me!" And we got out all the instruments and played and drummed and sang and you were definitely in charge.

I want to remember how much you love making chili.

I want to remember how I found you in child's pose in your room after you'd stomped down the hall so mad because I said "no."

I want to remember that I'm trusting my intuition when it comes to so many things and modeling this for you is one of my most important moves as your mama.

I want to remember the moments when you wrap your arms around my arm as you cuddle up with me on the couch and say, "Mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, mama, I love you."

*****

"I want to remember..." is one of my favorite prompts to use here on my blog, in Project Life, and when I'm stuck (or when I think I don't have any stories left). Each statement becomes it's own access point to a story I want to tell. And, so often I find threads of gratitude woven within the memories. 

An invitation :: Get out a pen and paper and write your own list today. You might even want to leave a comment sharing an "I want to remember" story.

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude (my corner)

Last week, a visit from a dear friend gave me a reason to visit the Washington Coast. 

I spend a lot of time at home...working...living. And I do take time to notice the beauty right outside my door. Standing in my backyard and taking five deep breaths is almost daily self-care first aid around here. But sometimes I forget that I really can get in my car and drive just 90 minutes to the ocean (and that is why I wanted to move here almost 10 years ago).

It is like a reboot for my soul.

I'm deeply grateful that when I stand with my feet in the sand, looking "eye to eye" with the ocean, I hear my soul's song. I feel deeply at home. I find myself dancing until I find the rhythm that I need to make sense of things. I'm so grateful for this gift.

In the comments: What are you grateful for about where you live? Let's make a community gratitude list this weekend! Share a few words in the comments today.

Extra Credit: Get outside and take a little video of your corner of the world. Upload it online. Come back and share a link. (I might even pin to my YES board.)

Blessings and love to you today,

Liz

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude (learning from my fifth grade self)

My hands are freezing as I move the necklaces from the rocks to my dress form to the box that sits on the chair beside me. My fingers are stiff and my breath feels airy almost wheezy in my throat in the way that happens when you aren't wearing enough clothes and are moving very fast and fall seems ready to give in to winter. And then I collide into a memory of my fifth-grade self playing soccer. 

Running, wheezing a bit in the frigid air, trying not to be afraid of the ball. Always on defense. One of the two tallest, most "developed" girls in the class. I'm not the fast one. I'm the nice one. The one who decides team sports might not be for me when a sixth grader on the other team says, "Bitch, get out of my way." At the next pause in the game, I raise my hand to my coach and say, "I'm happy to sit out so someone else can play." And I cheer on the sidelines until my voice is hoarse.

I Open My Heart, new in the shop

I move the jewelry back and forth quickly and think about how I am literally a photographer losing the light like someone in a movie. A real photographer. A real artist. A real business owner making a living creating things and teaching about keeping your heart open to the beauty and the shit.

I focus on phrases like "live it baby girl" and "I am home" and "I open my heart," and I keep thinking about that girl raising her hand to her coach, knowing when to say, "This isn't for me." 

And gratitude arrives. For her wisdom, her ability to set boundaries, her way of recognizing that something wasn't a good fit. She might not have known this was what she was doing, but she took care of herself in this really specific way. She recognized what she was good at and what didn't feel right. And she cheered at every single game.

I'm thinking about her today as I navigate my world over here. I'm thinking about this old story that I've often turned into something funny when people ask me if I played sports in high school. I'm wondering why I feel this need to make myself so small. I'm thinking about how I could reimagine this story and listen to what it has to teach me.

And I'm thinking about how much we focus on what we can't do, what we aren't good at, what we failed at, how we feel not enough.

When really we are miraculous beings finding our way. We are amazing. We are figuring out this crazy, awesome life. And we are stumbling. And we are doing brave things. And we are creating businesses and finding new ways to live our dreams into reality and becoming ninja warriors and opening up our hearts again and again.

And this is what I know: When I look up from my corner, I see so much love. I see so many of us cheering each other on until we are hoarse.

Yes.

A gratitude prompt today: What can your younger self teach you today? What gratitude do you feel for her (or him)? Take out your journal and write down the words that come to you in this moment.

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude (putting it in writing)

One big way I'm saying YES to gratitude this month is by writing gratitude notes to 30 people in my life. I'm using Lori Portka's A Month of Thank Yous Gratitude Kit, and it is already changing me. Seriously. And that is honestly a bit unexpected.

When I decided to embark on this adventure of writing 30 notes of gratitude, I had the thought that I didn't know 30 people I could thank. I mean do I even have 30 people in my life? It feels so quiet over here because I spend so much time alone and with my little famly.

But then I started writing the notes.

Four notes in and I can't stop thinking about new people to write to. I feel deeply steeped in really seeing and thinking about the people who have guided me to this moment in my life. And this specific kind of gratitude is a feeling I needed to experience in my bones.

The reality is, we don't always practice what we know, what we teach. October is a challenging month each year around here, and my husband's stress level is always high. Yet, somehow I'm always surprised. (Kind of like how each year in early March, I am shocked by my own stress level about getting my taxes done. Happens each year. Still catches me off guard.)

Gratitude can seem very far away when the stress of the everyday stuff is high. The word alone can bug me, and invite me to feel guilty and even angry. These feelings becomes clues of course, but that doesn't mean I always want to investigate what they are telling me.

Last week, as I was thinking about this idea of inviting in more gratitude and deciding to do this practice of writing out my gratitude and sending it in the mail to others, I gave myself permission to set down some of my stories around the word "gratitude" and see what would happen if I explored it with my heart simply open. 

I'll be sharing more about the experience of writing these notes throughout the month, and I'd love for you to come along and share your experience with the practice too. Consider joining me and writing your own notes of gratitude (you could even just write 5 or 10). 

Be sure to check out Lori's kit here. There are 30 different postcards in the kit, so you are actually getting 30 small prints on gorgeous, thick, easy-to-write on cardstock. Lori's offering my readers a 15% discount this month with the code THANKFUL (just put the code in right above your order total on the shopping cart page).

*****

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure here on my blog.

Throughout the month, there will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, a special Etsy sale for my newsletter subscribers, and a few other good things. 

You can find all the YES to Gratitude posts right here. 

YES to gratitude

I'll begin by saying how grateful I am that 2200 of you came along and said "Yes to this moment" when we went on a deep dive into being present during Yes, This* earlier this month. The experience of teaching that 10-day course was transformative for me and I want to continue sharing ideas about ways we can say YES in the midst of our beautiful, messy lives. 

This November, I'm exploring the idea of saying YES to gratitude in all its gorgeous, sometimes confusing, heart-expanding ways. And I'm inviting you to come along on the adventure right here on my blog (no need to sign up for anything). There will be a practice in letting others know I'm grateful for them, a few stories, a collaboration or two, inspiration from others, some giveaways, and a few other good things. I won't be blogging about gratitude every day in November, but it will be a theme I visit a few times a week.

Thank you for being here and sharing your stories. I look forward to continuing to say YES together.

*I've received a few emails from people asking about the next time I'll be offering Yes, This or wanting ways to dive deeper into the concepts explored in that course. I will be sharing it again in the future, but until then, consider joining me for my December Water Your Soul course where we'll be exploring ways to stay centered in the midst of the holiday season. And you might want to sign up for my (almost) weekly newsletter all about creative self-care that shares stories of my in the trenches exploration of holding beauty in one hand and the messy in the other and saying YES to all of it.