In Florida, this is about when my favorite season truly sets in: Autumn.
Given the past 10 published posts from Jan-Oct 2023, I still have not decided what my theme would be from month to month. Although seemingly random, I still try to tie in what I learned from the past month into the post at the beginning of the current month. I personally love the time of fall foliage, even though I have never seen it yet in person. I will soon one day though! It is definitely on my Bucket List.
Fall has a lot of meaning to me, especially because my Mom was born in this season, and she is one the most beautiful and kind human beings I know! My gratitude to this universe starts with my mother. She is the reason I am here and able to give back to this big little world, as her daughter, as a PA, a health advocate, a Resource Blogger, and more! I think ‘tis the season to not only SHOW our gratitude for life and all the things we have in our lives, but also to GIVE back to our loved ones and to mankind.
I often get emotional thinking of how my family got here to this country and gave up SO MUCH of their livelihood for their children’s future. And I had always wanted to be a living-proof of what the outcomes of that “better future” look like. My sister and I are both quite lucky to have gone to college on scholarships, gotten jobs that allow us to give back to our communities and have remained quite disciplined in our ways of life. I am proud of her as my little sis who’s no longer so little anymore. I still have a whole lot more of life to learn and so much more wisdom to reap. I’m grateful for the paths that I landed on, no matter how windy or confusing or frustrating at times... They all served a purpose to keep me moving forward to my ultimate destination, here and now.
At this stage in my life, I can confidently say that life is NOT perfect, no days are perfect, and nobody is perfect, including you and I. The lessons I have learned thus far is a result of living, working, teaching, volunteering, and/or meeting with people throughout my lifetime so far. Each encounter has played a critical role and I want to send my gratitude to each of them. In return, I do want to ask that they ALL thank my mother for the chance to meet me. 😉
We are all versions of the same kind, humankind, as human beings. I have a feeling sometimes we forget this, and yes, I’m also guilty of it too. I think that the beauty of SHOWING GRATITUDE and GIVING BACK put us right back into our places, as mankind. That’s what we’re programmed originally to do by nature! The “us vs. them” mentality is history and “only be nice when asking for favors” is obsolete… I’m sure we have all witnessed all kinds of people on our paths or line of work that we simply can’t stand or even trust. In this day and age, could we simply walk away from the oppression or the annoyance? Will we lose our jobs over standing up to naïve behaviors? Where is the justice… One more thing, when will some people wake up and recognize we’re just trying to have some peacefulness here. Let’s go back to the focus of gratitude and giving for this month: be grateful to those that raise us up, especially our parents and mentors; thankful to the lives that we cross that teach us so many lessons, the good and the ugly. Give back to the community we live in and let’s make this planet slightly better than yesterday. This all starts with recognizing that there is a need to be a slightly better version of humankind than we were yesterday. So, are you in?