It's always fascinated me that we spend so much of our lives searching for the things

that we realize in time we had all along.

That our journeys bring us full circle.

Our stories end how they began and in the end, we fade away holding tightly

to that from which we emerged. Not because we fell short, no, but because eventually we realize

how simple things really are from the outside looking in, we realize what we have.

Speaker Dennis Waitley once said happiness cannot be traveled to.

Owned, earned, worn, or consumed, happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.

It's why times like these, when we get to look around and recapture our perspective,

means so much, almost as though it's reassurance that, yeah, life can be hard,

frustrating, abstract, but that at the core of everything is contentment is enough.

It's why we need not search for love we are, in fact, surrounded by it.

We need not search for hope when it's ingrained in every breath or reassurance when it's a phone call away.

I once heard an interesting idea that we only see what we focus on.

And not only metaphorically, but literally so much of life exists outside our periphery. If you can walk down the same street every day and see something new each time,

imagine the power of readjusting how you see life as the sun comes up in the morning.

Imagine pulling more of what matters into focus, becoming living proof, that we don't need to wait

until things are gone or changed to appreciate what we have and who we are.

I think that's why Cicero said gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all

others. Because when one can look around and see all that

they have, scarcity has to give way to abundance. Fear becomes hope, the mundane becomes beautiful. Gratitude

is power because it's not acquisition. It its awareness. A reset button.

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