A Month of Thankfulness: Michelle of Armas Design

Today, I feel very fortunate to have the incredibly talented artist and blogger Michelle Armas here today sharing her thoughts on the month's theme. As someone who is spending her life on creative endeavors, I think we can learn a lot from Michelle's perspective on thankfulness.

Michelle Armas is such a talent, and her work has been seen at Anthropologie, One Kings Lane and in the stylish homes of those-in-the-know. Aside from possessing an incredible artistic gift, Michelle's blog Armas Design lets her readers into her life--into her creative process, into her business, into her experiences as a wife. Her posts are always honest, frank and real. She lives honestly and I hope you will enjoy her thoughts on the month's theme of thankfulness.

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What am I grateful for? What am I thankful for? You know, I think about this every single day.
I have started a gratitude journal (so very Oprah of me isn't it.) It helps me to get over myself and the problems that I sometimes allow to consume my thoughts. Are they really problems though? Not when I change my perspective a little and I take stock of what really matters and what I really have.

These past few days I have been pondering how lucky I am to live right here, right now (yes, that song totally just popped into my head).

I am free to be whoever I want. I can choose where I live, what I wear, what I eat, who I love, my friends and my daily path. I can walk down the street and go wherever I want. I can drink water that isn't poisoned or miles away from me. I can have babies, or not have babies. I can be gay or not be gay. I can be any religion I want. I can believe what I want and I can say it out loud and no one will put me in jail. I can learn and read and explore any idea that I could ever think of without fear of being hunted and shot by my government or anyone else. I can look up at a sky that isn't full of bombs or deadly gas. Imagine how many people on this earth can't say that about their lives? The basic, simple things that we take for granted every day. My heart hurts for those people and then my heart is happy that it is free. Every morning the first thing I write in my gratitude journal is "I am free." And everything else seems smaller.

My freedom is a miracle. It is a gift. I know that you may read my post and think about all of the extremes and all of the ways that my freedom is an illusion. Its always that way when we talk about generalities. But. You can say it. I can say it. I think that is magic. I am so very grateful for my freedom.

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I don't think Michelle has overstated the importance of choice and freedom--that, when you stop and think about the possibility of life without room for choice, it's impossible not to feel thankful every day. 

Perhaps it's because she sees the world through artist's eyes, but Michelle has a way to see the positive, the humor, the beautiful in situations. That's also something to be grateful for.

Thank you, Michelle for being here today.