3 months and not 4 months!!!!Thanksgiving marked 4 months since surgery and diagnosis on August 26th.

What a perfect time to think about gratitude!

If you have not read “The unexpected joy of the Ordinary” by Catherine Gray, I highly recommend it. She talks about the science of gratitude and how it actually changes our brains. More importantly for me she explains that, from her research, “The extraordinary is not where the cellular level happiness is at. It’s in the ordinary. Infinitesimal workaday moments that are a brief flash of sunlight”

I read this book a few years ago and took her advice to write gratitude every day. I did not write the 8 recommended but 3 per day and I thought about the small moments in my day that brought me happiness. I remember it being much more powerful than the big sweeping statements of gratitude that can become repetitive and actually lose their power.

So when we went around the table and talked about what we were grateful for, of course family is top of my list!!! When I dig deeper though it is the small moments of joy with my family and tribe: Here are 8 gratitude moment from the last few days, off the top of my head the list could go on!!!!!!!

• Sophie putting decorations on the tree
• Grandkids aged 2-12 years playing together
• Watching the river change each day on my walks
• Picture messages from my kids showing me about their day.
• Texts from my Warrior Angels
• Watching the sky change color
• Dave cooking me nutritious dinners
• Detox juice delivered to my doorstep
• Lying reading my book in the morning.

How am I really doing?

Honestly, all things considered, I am doing well! I am on week 3 of a 4 week break from any treatment so no radiotherapy, no chemo drugs and I am weaning off the seizure and steroid meds. Each day I feel stronger and more balanced. I keep up my routine of yoga, nap, walk, read and PT. I sleep well at night and my knitting is getting easier. I am still not gaining back any weight despite the delicious keto food that the meal train provided for us and the keto chocolate that I eat constantly. I know it was all muscle that I lost and I need to put the work in to get that back!!! Do I have my moments of sadness? You bet I do!!! However, I don’t fixate on that. I allow the emotion in, acknowledge it and then let it go. Just like my yoga teachers have taught me over the years!!!!