Je vous remercie

I got inspired today. I spent the last few weeks thinking of the “what could have been”. I have stopped thinking of the things that I should be thankful for. Today, I just want to write about living in the “now” and being thankful for what is in the present.

I am not religious. I was baptized a catholic, I went to sectarian schools and grew up in a fairly religious family, but I haven’t really practiced a lot of what I was taught as a catholic. I don’t go to church, I don’t do the sign of the cross, I don’t pray the rosary, or any of the prayers I learned from school.

You may be wondering, “Is she an atheist?”. To answer your question – no, I am not. Don’t get me wrong. I believe in God. I believe that somewhere in our vast universe, we have someone looking over us. An ultimate, higher being. I pray and talk to God. Some might say I’m an agnostic, a skeptic. To be honest, I don’t know how I should categorize my faith. Should we really need to have sectors? Division? But that’s another story for another day in time. What I know is – I have faith.

I’m writing about how my faith inspired me to be more thankful, forgiving and kind. The last few weeks, I forgot to appreciate. I forgot how it felt to be inspired, to be motivated, to be moved. I did things to keep me busy and productive, but I never really found meaning in what I was doing. I lost my drive, I may have even lost my passion and just be great.

And so I thought – I can’t continue living in the past. Remembering memories that flew right by will just continue to haunt me. What is it that I have now? I listed them all down, and these are what I came up with:

1. With everything that has happened, I always have family to talk to. My sisters are the lights of my life. They make me happy 🙂 I spend a lot of time virtually chatting with them through video calls.
2. I’m given the chance to travel from one part of the Philippines to another. I initially found it tiring, but hey! Not a lot of people get to see different cities in their own country, and I’m lucky enough to do that with no cost.
3. I was given the opportunity to give. As I was sorting through my stuff as we just moved in to our new apartment, I realized that we have a lot of things in surplus. It’s an awareness that struck me. Give. Donate. Kindness goes a long way.
4. I was blessed with a forgiving heart. I don’t hold grudges, pain and sadness. With the help of my husband, I am able to let go of not so happy emotions and continue to have a light and untroubled heart.
5. Lastly, and speaking of  husband, I am lucky enough to have someone who can accept all my imperfections and just love me unconditionally. I’m not even going to elaborate on this more. You know what I mean.

So what inspired me to write about being thankful? It’s TODAY. Sometimes, you get all caught up in several things – work, day to day problems, bills, probably even your hobbies, and you don’t pause and think about NOW. What are those things that you sometimes take for granted, and sometimes forget how important they are in your existence?

Pray. Say “thank you” a lot. Remember and smile at good memories and forget bad ones. Be a happy soul.