Gratitude

Hello!

I am just back from an amazing holiday - my first in over two years and wanted to share some holiday thoughts with you while it was fresh in my mind.
We went to Poland - first Limanowa to stay with friends then on to Krakow.  Neither of us had been to Poland before and it is an absolutely beautiful country; if you haven't been I would definitely recommend it!

So, what has my holiday got to do with gratitude you might ask?  Obviously I am super grateful that we both have the cash to spend on a holiday, that I was able to get the time away and that we had some willing to take care of our three cats while we were away.  But it wasn't just that.

Our friend was kind enough to pick us up from the airport to take us to Limanowa and on our way there, only about 10 minutes from Limanowa itself we had a car accident. 
If you've ever been to south Poland you will know that the roads can be quite windy and they have a ditch literally on either side of the road.  As our friend took a corner the wheel hit some loose gravel and we seemed to get sucked into the ditch.

The car rolled and we ended up in the ditch on the opposite side of the road, facing the wrong way.  I was in the back seat, my husband was in the front and our friend was obviously driving. 
Now...here's where the first part of the gratitude comes in  - thankfully no other cars were involved, just us.  Some other guys had seen it happen and stopped to help us.  All three of us walked away from that accident basically unhurt!  I did get some bruises and mild swelling from the seatbelt but honestly I'll take that as a win!

Second piece of gratitude coming - so many people who were driving past stopped to offer help, check we were ok.  It was honestly so touching and I couldn't believe how nice everyone was.  I am so grateful to the two men who helped us out of the car and all those people who stopped to offer help and check we were ok.

Third piece of gratitude - I don't always wear my seatbelt in the backseat.  Yes I realise that is not good and I should wear it and I am writing this very shamefacedly!  For some reason, something in my gut/instinct/intuition/whatever you want to call it told me to put on my seatbelt that day.  I am so grateful I did!  Honestly if I was not wearing a seatbelt I would not have walked away from that accident.  I am convinced I would be seriously injured or even dead.

I'm still walking around feeling totally blessed we are all ok but the weird thing was, after the accident I didn't feel stressed, annoyed, angry, anything negative.  I felt an overwhelming sensation of gratitude and thankfulness that no one was hurt.  I definitely felt sympathy and concern for our friend as the car was a write-off, but the 'old' me would honestly have stressed and complained about the whole thing.  The newer me, the meditating me and the cultivating gratitude me didn't complain once!

I honestly believe that cultivating gratitude in your life, whether through meditation, journaling or whatever method you choose has amazing benefits and changes your life for the better - and for me this is proof.  I am so much more positive and grateful, even in the stressful situations life throws at me and I feel so much happier.  I even think it's rubbing off on my husband who kept laughing and saying "at least it's a memorable holiday".  Once that day was over we spent the next time just having fun, sightseeing, catching up with our friends and enjoying the weather!