Alchemy

Gratitude and Alchemy combined are the most powerful tools I’ve found in creating the life I want to be living. When I am grateful for what I have, I feel present and secure. Choosing to see what I already have and be aware of the plenty that is surrounding me. In a world that will keep bombarding you with messages of lack, to see the bounty around you is a skill and a rebellion.

I reject the notion that I need a beauty product so that I will look younger. I am not trying to hide my wrinkles, I find beauty in the way my skin moves and shows the joy of my past. No, I do not need to shave the hair off my body, or take a supplement so my cheeks are bouncy like they were in youth. I am not scared to look my age. I am not worried people will know that I am wise. I am grateful for who I am, how I look, the body I have and the life that is around me.

In the moments that I am not able to access my gratitude, when my mind is cloudy and my core is electric with emotion. I alchemize the fear I feel of being sucked into a whirlwind of my own self-destruction, I look for the lesson. There is always a lesson in the shadows. The moments of pain and loss. These are moments to learn who we are, what we are made of, and what we want to be. These are moments of transformation. Much like the caterpillar disintegrating in the cocoon. How painful that must be. And the work of reconstructing oneself into something else entirely. Immense, consuming. But temporary. And soon entering the world, feeling the sunshine once more and now with wings to enjoy this world in an entirely new way.

So there is beauty in the pain. And if you can approach this moment of hardship with curiosity rather that fear, then the journey is much less tumultuous. And you can once again find your gratitude.