Gratitude Everlasting - Day 1

On November 7^th, Kind Spring (@Kind_Spring) kicks off another 21-day Gratitude Challenge. I accepted the challenge and signed up a few days ago to commemorate the five-month anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis. And yet, when the sun rose this morning, and I began to think about the plethora of people and things in my life that I am grateful for, I decided I needed more than 21 days to celebrate them.

Nearly simultaneously, I realized that the end of the month of November would mark the six-month anniversary of my cancer diagnosis and recognized that my physical and emotional return from that mind-blowing, soul-crushing afternoon at the end of May is what I am most grateful for every day I open my eyes.

So my 21-day challenge has just expanded and my new commitment is to be mindfully grateful every day of this month. All of the goodness will culminate in a Thank You party on November 30^th for all of you who have loved and supported me and my family over the past few months in our biggest time of need. (Consider this post a save-the-date, evites to follow to those I have email addresses for so send me yours or stay tuned for more information!)

Since thirty days of gratitude and a big party at the end of the month could be considered a no-brainer for most of us living in a first world country, I’ve upped the ante for myself by requiring a blog post (written daily) on the object of my gratitude. This will indeed be the CHALLENGE part - daily documentation.

And so we begin.

Day 1 – November 1^st - Today I am grateful for clean water.

I am profoundly grateful for access to clean water for myself and my family.

We have unlimited access to clean water for drinking, for showering, for cooking, for gardening and for washing when, according to CharityWater.org, 800 million people do not even have access to clean drinking water. I also have access to the ultimate luxury of clean, hot water for showering, which I truly consider a stepping stone to a achieving a state of nirvana.

I am grateful.

If you'd like to help others find gratitude in the same seemingly mundane activity of drinking clean water, consider checking out and supporting the following organizations:

www.CharityWater.org
WADI: by Helioz
UNICEF water & sanitation program
TheWaterProject.org

NOTE: If you'd like to spend the month in a state of gratitude, you can play along with me here in the comments section or check out KindSpring.org to sign up for their 21-day Challenge.