If there is one consistent source of gratitude that has run the course of my entire life, it is my family – the one I had the great fortune of being born into. I am talking about Tom Burke, Bonnie Burke, Joy Zagar, and Jimmy Burke. They challenge, support, motivate, model, listen, advise, and most importantly, laugh with me, all with an undercurrent of warmth and mutual respect. We can go without speaking for weeks or even months on end, miss each other for years, but when we pick up the thread of where we left off, it is always a homecoming.
I did not always appreciate these 4 pillars. I took for granted growing up in a home where there were clearly defined boundaries, surrounded by a ton of love and faith, and given all the opportunities that my parents were able to offer. In fact, it was not really until I moved away and was exposed to some examples of severely dys-functional families, that the full impact of growing up with unconditional love hit me. And the older I get, the more I see how deep the implications run of not having a solid homelife as a child. So in my daily gratitude practice, it is quite easy for me to start with them as a primary source for gratitude.
If you grew up, as I did, with such a solid foundation, I wish you a heart full of gratitude for the gift it truly is. If you did not, then I wish you healing and closure, with the opportunity of making a beautiful family of your own.