PROJECT GRATITUDE TREE
To show my gratitude to my Higher Power, for allowing my feet to hit the ground every morning, I have started a self-care project, that I am calling Project Gratitude Tree.
In the Spring of this year, I moved from Hawaii to Northern Arizona, and I think the most difficult thing for me to overcome is the cold weather as it is now turning Winter.
Having grown up in Upstate NY, I had all four seasons to enjoy. Throughout my travels in life, and Hawaii being my home for the last 25 years, I really only had one season. Beautiful.
My self-care, or the lack of, along with my dog Phoenix, has opened my eyes and heart to this project. I was feeling down on myself because I wasn’t getting outside as early in the morning as I had been, and when I did get out early, it was a quick out and in for Phoenix.
Just a couple of months ago, during the Summer months, I started a challenge myself. To show my gratitude for my feet hitting the floor, we would get up and outside early enough to take a photo of the sunrise every morning. And Phoenix got to go to the dog park to play ball, and we would go for a walk. As the mornings got colder, I got out of bed later and later and was feeling down on myself because I would miss the sunrise. I was considering this a failure.
After having a conversation about this with my High-Performance coach, and explaining to her how I was feeling, she asked me, “what is the purpose of you taking the photos every day? What does that represent to you?” I told her, “it is proof that my Higher Power has given me another day, and taking a beautiful photo is my way of showing my gratitude.”
After talking it through and coming up with other ways I could show my gratitude, I landed on; I can take a picture of a tree, the same tree, every day at different times to see the progression of the life of the tree throughout the seasons. Right now, they are barren with only a few fall-colored leaves, soon the branches will hold snow, ice, and water. And in only a few months, the branches will start to blossom with new life.
Enter Project Gratitude Tree.
After our call, I thought more deeply about this and found my Mom & Dad visiting me from above. My Dad passed away in 2003 from cancer that had metastasized from his lungs years earlier. My Mom passed away in 2020 from cancer, that also metastasized from her lungs.
I then found myself Googling, ‘what color ribbon represents lung cancer’, and found, white is the color ribbon. I went to my local craft store and purchased a spool of white ribbon. Cut two pieces, and found a tree to tie the ribbons in.
Having dedicated the tree and the ribbons to my Mom & Dad has brought such a deeper meaning that just a ‘project’. It also represents the transformation of life and death. The gratitude for not only my feet hitting the floor, but the gratitude for another day no matter the weather. I have the opportunity to show my gratitude for other things as well, such as my healthy lungs that allow me to breathe, the ability to walk to the tree every day, take beautiful photos, and saying ‘Hi’ to Mom and Dad every day.
And most of all, seeing how happy Phoenix is to go play ball in the park.
If you have found yourself in a similar place, may I suggest you find a Gratitude Tree of your own?
