Morning everyone 🤍 This week's Open Page is now live in the classroom. We're writing into the strength you forgot you had. Not the loud, confident kind. The quieter kind that often only makes sense when you look back. Through the hard choices, the boundaries that came from love, and the moments where you kept going without realising how much courage they asked of you. Take your journal when you have a quiet moment this week and choose the prompt that speaks to you. I'll see you on Tuesday for Write With Me, where we'll spend 30 minutes writing together. 11am UK time.

Recently my water was shut off due to an incident in the area. However, I was not informed. So, after that I can now share many gratitudes. First is my first sip of cold clean water. Second, is my first sip of my hot coffee. Third was having a nice warm shower. Fourth was always having 20 litres of fresh water on stand by. Fifth was having water to flush the toilet. The list is endless just having no water and not being forwarned. ❤️

This week’s Wordcore word is GLIMMER. A glimmer is a small moment in your day that brings joy, peace, comfort, or gratitude. It feels like such a fitting word for our first theme in The Way of Gratitude: Noticing What Is Already Here. Sometimes we think gratitude has to be big, obvious, or deeply profound. But often it begins somewhere much smaller. In a flicker of relief. In a quiet comfort. In a beautiful ordinary moment that reminds you life is still here, still offering something, even now. A glimmer might be: - the light through the window - your first sip of coffee - a song you needed - a calm breath - a moment of stillness - a feeling that, for one second, something softened That is where I think this week begins. Not with forcing gratitude, but with noticing. Journal starting line: Something small that met me today was…

It’s easy to be grateful when life is amazing. When I’m lying by the pool in a luxury five-star resort, gratitude comes easily. But it is also hard to love a body that is in constant pain. This week I have been writing a lot about gratitude, both for my book and for myself. I think gratitude is a personal responsibility. Without it, I think life could start to feel empty. It could start to feel like a struggle. Always hoping for things to improve, or for the pain to subside, while also knowing that it may not. And in that space, the void can grow bigger - between the person I was and the person I have had to become. But that void can be filled with gratitude. Not in a fake way. Not by pretending pain does not exist. But by remembering that there is always something to be grateful for, no matter how small. Be present. Notice. Be thankful. Remember. I don’t think gratitude comes from going without, or from imagining a life without something. I think it comes from love. From being present. From noticing a small beautiful smile, a ripple, a glimmer. Living gratitude is a glow-up. It does not take away a life with pain. It shows you the beauty of the life.