How to define a good day

If there is any ONE thing that came out of the experience of surviving strokes and paralysis as a young person  and the losses associated with any serious medical challenges, for me, IT IS THIS:

~Any day where you wake up alive and breathing to find you can walk, talk, go to the bathroom on your own and in general use your body 

IS A GOOD DAY~

This one realization has helped me to be so much happier every single day, maybe even exponentially happier on the deepest level than I was pre-stroke. There is so much that can be added onto this for many of us; things like unlimited clean water, food, shelter, clothing for warmth and comfort, soft beds, and then onto the the really major conveniences like automobiles, phones, and washing machines.And some of us are lucky enough to have family and love and good  friends in our lives.  It's overwhelming.  Honestly, it brings me to tears, every time I really let it in. 

~Let it in~

When I do get depressed or overwhelmed (and of course I do), a quick meditation where I start by naming what I have and I really go through it..it just instantly stops that bullshit voice in my mind that wants to convince me that I don't have enough or that there is some catastrophe in my life. How absurd.  The bankruptcy was a great example of a fake problem. What does a medical bankruptcy really mean when you have clothes, family, food, love and you wake up alive with a healing body and a real shot a living? The answer is it means nothing. It's one of those pretend problems. It's really only a piece of paper. 

So people, and yoga teachers like myself even, talk a lot about gratitude. For me this isn't a buzz word ladened with some first-world guilt, and a sense of obligation to be "grateful" for my blessings. For me, this idea of gratitude is a straight shot into the deep well of beauty that being alive can be if you let it. 

It's so hard to wake up. I am stubborn and willful and it took some really challenging days for me to wake up  to what a good day really is. But now I know it's simple, and that knowledge is a gift.