Saturday, December 15, 2012

Celebrate!!!!

A few months ago my best friend and I started reading a book called "Life Is a Verb" by Patti Digh. Life is a Verb is a book Patti wrote as she examined her life after the death of her stepfather. He was diagnosed with cancer and only lived 37 days after his diagnosis. She shares tid bits of her life and how she's learned to live better....everyday. If you haven't heard of the book I highly suggest picking it up at the library or even amazon. It's sort of a book you digest little by little.

I haven't really had much time to read for pleasure the last three months because of school but the last few weeks of the quarter I kept thinking about a story she shared about her daughter. Her daughter came home from school and when her father asked about her day she said she had taken her first quiz. When her father asked how she did she had a proud smile and exclaimed, "I got 30%!" Patti's initial reaction was to say, "You must feel terrible," but instead asked her how it made her feel. Her daughter, still proud burst out, "I got some right!" In bold text the sentence immediately following this story says, "Wow. What a fantastic way of looking at the world." Then she goes on to ask why don't we stop and celebrate the successes we do have? Interesting question really.

I feel sometimes it is much easier to dwell on the negative. I have to give myself some credit here, I feel like I've done a fairly good job at not being so negative, so maybe it's getting easier to be positive. Anyways, for a while much of my life seemed negative (drama, etc.). Then there was a turning point. Much to my realization, I was in control of MY life. Heck yeah I was (and am). Once that important revelation sunk in I was able to change the cycle of my thoughts and feelings. Then Nicholas came along. Life has only become more happy since then.

Lately I've been really grasping the concept of celebrating accomplishments. Not just mine either. I see myself celebrating Kailey's accomplishments too. For instance she's starting to use the spoon a bit more. She really prefers to use her hands, but I give her the spoon anyways so she can get acclimated with it a bit. Sometimes she'll hold it in her hand and shove food in her mouth with the other. Other times she will put food on the spoon with her fingers. More and more she's picking food up with her spoon and putting it in her mouth. I decided it was a great idea to clap and make a big deal with she does pick up the food and put it in her mouth with the spoon. She loves it! She still prefers hand feeding herself, but who doesn't right? I also celebrated with clapping when Nick and I were teaching her to high five. Now when she gives a high five she automatically starts clapping and getting happy. I can't help but smile and celebrate with her.

What in your life can you celebrate?

Here are a few of my celebratory excitements:

Kailey growth and adventures
The growth within my marriage and within myself
Successfully completing my first quarter of college, and with all A's (I'm pretty proud of myself!)
Being on the path to doing something I love
Succeeding

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