one little word for 2012... gratitude

 a month ago i posted a heartfelt post about how we've been reorganzing our life and how our family runs and i was both surprised and touched at the emails i received from readers who were also struggling and that my story had inspired them to continue trying. it absolutely meant everything to me to know that i helped in some small way. keep faith, my friends.

since our family is still organized and everyone is happily helping keep it that way, i decided to take the past month to reflect on my personal goals for 2012 and what i want to achieve. one of the things i knew i wanted to do this year was follow Ali Edwards' one little word journey. it took a little bit of time and pondering, but i finally chose my one little word for 2012 and it might surprise you, but my word is 'gratitude'. of course, since i'm a girl in love with paper and art, i decided to create an art/gratitude journal to keep my heart and my mind reminded of my word.

so what does the word gratitude mean for me right now? well, i have to admit that in the middle of the health battles, the pain from my fibro and various other upsets in our life, sometimes if forget about all that i have to be thankful for. i kept seeing this quote floating around online "what if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?" and everytime i read it, it settled deep inside my head and heart and refused to budge for days. so this year, i'm trying to live a life of gratitude. i want to be conscious of the beautiful life i have... and remember to be thankful for it. my new art/gratitude journal will sit on my studio table and at least once a week i want to check back in, create a new page inspired by something/someone i am grateful for. so that is one of my goals for 2012.

over the next week or so, i'll be posting more artwork and filling you in on some of the other things i'm aiming for this year. we still have a lot going on in our life, so i'm going to take it as it comes and not beat myself up if i can't achieve it all, but i'm going to try all the same!