Grateful to be alive

Good morning fellow tool folks,

I want to encourage you to keep with the program as best you can.

Today is the 36th anniversary of my bat-mitzvah and I am very grateful to be alive. 36 is a special number in the Jewish tradition.  Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet is assigned a number.  The letters in Chai, or life, add up to 18.  Multiples of 18 are considered very fortuitous.  The fact that I have made it to age 49, really is a miracle of modern medicine.

I only post occasionally now.  I made my way through the Tools program and graduated.  My life really took a positive turn once I found Tools.  Even though I don't do everything perfectly, I learned habits of mind and behavior that continue to stand me in good stead, even when I hit rough patches.  And I still get Tools inspirations by email, which reinforce what I learned. 

Not to brag, but to inspire you (and me), I want to catalogue some of the changes in my life that Tools kicked off:

I am now a size 2 - 4, depending on the cut of clothes, from a size 10.

I am on a positive career path.  I am still seeking and working towards my heart work, while I am currently employed in a comfortable prosperous job.

My relationship with my husband and son are solidly improved.

My quick and harsh temper is almost entirely a thing of the past.

My physical, spiritual, and emotional health is much, much better - I came in as a recent cancer survivor and caregiver to husband and son who were facing their own life-threatening conditions.  I now call us the miracle family, because we have all pulled through to the other side and have moved from the PTSD of early survival to the appreciation of life and one another.

I am much better equipped to shut down negativity, complaints, worries, fears, guilt and resentments.

I am grateful for what I have, which is everything I need and much of what I want.

I also want to list areas I want to put more positive energy towards:

Decluttering

Putting an end to procrastination

Honoring my intuition and soul in all I do

Being more consistent about staying in contact and seeing friends

Improving my communication skills

Reclaiming my self-confidence, which is still a bit shaken from the trauma of all I've been through in recent past.

Improving my financial literacy and optimizing my financial standing.

I am writing all of this as a touchpoint and commitment.  I have learned that writing visionary goals sets the work in motion.  I notice that even though I do not return to the Tools program on a daily basis, I have made progress in all the areas I listed when I originally came in.  I don't know whether this would have happened otherwise. Tools primed the pump for me how to garner inner strength and social support for reaching my goals.

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