I turned 31 recently.  Another year lived. One big, big change I’ve been feeling lately is just how grateful I am for everything in my life, everything around me.

There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle. – Albert Einstein 

This quote has been on my mind lately as I’ve been feeling so grateful for all that I have. I can’t believe how I could not have always felt this way — how self-centered, close-minded and unaware I was — where any little problem in my life seemed like such a big deal. These days I feel like I’m looking at everything with a lot more perspective. Traffic on the 405? Bad service at a restaurant? Behind on laundry, chores, messy house? Working a lot of overtime? Kira being a crazy dog again?  Dad accidentally microwaved his phone so have to buy him another? (true story). Lately, when I find myself complaining or worrying about these things, there’s an underlying sense of gratitude beneath it all. You know, like #firstworldproblems type thing. It’s so funny to think these things would drive me so crazy before.

Having this sense of gratefulness has really made a big difference in my day to day life lately. When I wake up in the morning more and more days now I wake up and lie there for a just a few moments noticing the space and the quiet and try to ground myself in gratitude before I start the day. And then from there almost every little thing feels like a miracle. I have running water that turns hot. I have a cute dog that loves me and runs to me every morning as if it’s the best day of her life.  I get to wake up next to my husband who is the smartest, kindest and most good-hearted person I know. I go outside and the sunlight is beautiful and warm on my face. I get to live in LA where there’s so much to explore and get to be around people from all sorts of backgrounds here. I get to eat anything I want (everyone — please do yourself a favor and get yourself some sour belt chamoy candy from the candy stand in Grand Central Market — it’s my current obsession). I have clean air to breathe. I have a job where I work with people I like and while I’ve not always been passionate about what I do, who am I to complain when I have a good job? Even the hard experiences in life, they happen for a reason. I truly believe that. Suffering is often the biggest catalyst for awakening to the insanity of our egos and so I’m grateful especially for those experiences.

It’s all interconnected I’m realizing. The more grateful I feel, the more present I am in my life, the more trivial certain “problems” are in my life, the more I trust that I’m right where I’m supposed to be, that I don’t need to be fighting against everything all the time.

We are all so lucky when it comes down to it.  It’s so hard to read the news, listen to NPR about refugee crises everywhere  and all sorts of injustices happening in the world and not feel heart-brokenly grateful with all that we have here. I’ve never felt as much empathy towards others as I have recently.  This is all just budding for me and I hope that it continues to grow stronger and stronger inside me and moves me to live with more intent and purpose. Living with a constant sense of wonder about everything around me and with a heart full of gratitude for all that is — that’s the way I want to live.

Currently Listening to: Crystalline — Jome