Guess who turned one-year-old in June?

If you have been following my letters, you may know the answer… my grandson, River!

What a bundle of joy and love he is! Later today he and our daughter and son-in-law will arrive for a week-long stay. I cannot wait!

I have been thinking a lot about joy and gratitude this past week, and the importance of bringing it into my life more fully.

It is easy for me to feel joy about River. The other person who has come up for me recently is Marshall Rosenberg.

Marshall Rosenberg, NVC, and many trainers have prepared me to be the kind of grandmother I would like to be: loving, patient, thoughtful, focused on needs, and more. Each time I see River, I thank the Universe that I found NVC.

It is easy to expand this to my relationship with my family and friends, the loving community that surrounds me, and my ability to feel joy, and better yet, to embody it.

When I think about my starting days in NVC, I wouldn’t have thought this was possible. I was disconnected from my feelings, did not think I had needs or deserved them, and I was unhappy in my work and every relationship. I felt hopeless, sad, lonely, and I embodied a kind of desperation that I was mostly unaware of.

What is happiness, anyway? What is living a “good” life? What is enough? How is it possible that allowing others to contribute to me is a “gift”? What is the greater Truth of me and how do I want to express it? How can I become more compassionate? How can I unclench my focus on protection to let love in?

Through years of practice, years of sharing NVC with others, years of support, learning from Marshall Rosenberg and my early trainers (Robert Gonzales, Sylvia Haskvitz and Wes Taylor primarily), I have found inner peace and I am surrounded by love. I give love way more freely, and I love my work. This is amazing to me!

And, soon our dear baby boy will be visiting and I am certain he will ramp up my joy meter even higher!

What are you grateful for today? 

What brings you joy? What was your starting point in living in NVC consciousness? Take a moment and think back to how you felt and what was happening in your life when you started living NVC, and then reflect on where you are today. Celebrate the accomplishments and acknowledge the places that still cause you pain.

See if you can accept it all, while feeling some joy and gratitude. Mourning may come as well – welcome that too!