We talk a lot about gratitude, but I have come to love the word CELEBRATE over gratitude. When I am celebrating something, I am REALLY grateful for it. You know that feeling you get when something makes you so happy that you want to break out the champagne and start dancing in the streets? THAT feeling.
The list is endless of all the things that are truly celebration worthy in our lives. We have something in our life right now that someone else would be dancing in the streets if they had it.
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” ― Oprah Winfrey
I found this quote a few years ago and loved it, but I am not sure that I completely got it, you know, deep down what it meant to celebrate your life, until a couple of years ago. I went to bed fine, and I woke up the next day with my hands in horrible pain. And I dealt with this for the next year. Simple, every day things were now challenges, even simple things like turning a door knob or buttoning my pants. Over the next year, I worked on healing my body and learning to deal with stress. My hands are almost normal again, but let me tell you, I celebrate them every day. I get what it means to celebrate your life, down to your very soul. Spend a year without the simple, everyday things we take for granted, and you will know what it feels like to celebrate them again.
But why must we lose something to be able to celebrate what we have? It’s funny when you think about it, why we must loose something as magnificent as pain-free functioning body parts to celebrate how amazing they are.
I write a lot about momentum and the importance of moving. This is why. I am grateful, and I want to keep moving in any way that I possibly can, whether it is big or small, it is moving.
We take so much for granted. Even when we do gratitude journals, so much of what we write seems obligatory at times, taking for granted the very things we would be lost without. It is written without the emotion, the excitement and celebration behind the gratitude.
Even after everything I have been through, as the months go by, I slowly find myself not thinking about it as much, whereas when I first was able to use my hands again, I wanted to jump for joy and celebrate every time I could turn a door knob. It is THAT feeling we need to get when we are thinking about the things in our lives for which we are grateful, the things we would feel lost without.
Create a Celebration Journal
So let’s start a Celebration Journal, or better yet, we can add this to our Inspirational Journal! This will be a journal where we combine gratitude with happy and add a little extra happy to it. This celebration journal will be to remind us to have the “break open the champagne and dance in the street” kind of happy about what we do have.
What are you celebrating today?
Celebration Journal – Monthly
30 Day Challenge – 30 Days of Celebration
For your pinning pleasure…
Quotes on Celebrating Life…
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” ― Oprah Winfrey
“I have come to love the word celebrate over gratitude. When I am celebrating life, I am REALLY grateful for it. It’s like a party. Life is meant to be celebrated.” -Topaz
“The Secret to a Happy Life: Celebrate what you want to increase in your life.” – Topaz
“Life is meant to be lived as a celebration. This is how you write on the wall of life.” -Topaz
More Inspirational Resources:
- Create Your Own Inspirational Journal
- 50+ Creative Prompts for an Inspirational Journal
- 30 Day Challenge: 30 Days of Inspiration
- Celebration Journal
- Journal Tips
- Journal Keepsake Ideas
I get that quote. I do. It’s magical and so simple at the same time, maybe that’s why it’s hard to understand at first. But when you take the time to sit and think about it, you start to realize the truth behind it.
It is a simple and magical quote, Ana Lynn. I think the word I didn’t fully wrap my head around was the word celebrate, what it really meant to celebrate the little things….truly celebrate them. That is the truly magical part of that quote, the way it feels to celebrate.
You really do celebrate life, Topaz. I had no idea about your hands. What an adversity. I do not know why it seems that some things have to be taken away for us to truly appreciate them. I am hoping that I can be wise enough to start to learn ahead of time and celebrate regardless of circumstances. That is practicing happiness. I love all the quotes. Beautiful. Have a beautiful day!
Exactly, it makes you think about all the things you take for granted every day, things that others would feel like throwing a huge celebration if they had. I don’t want to live where I take blessings for granted. No matter what might be wrong, I don’t want to be so focused on that that I stop celebrating all the things that are amazingly right. And it’s how I want my children to live. Even though they are grown, they are still watching. They are still learning. They are always still learning, just as we are. I made a poster a year or so ago that said, “If the world is a stage, our children are sitting in the front row.” Thank you for visiting, Elizabeth. It’s always so good to see you. Thank you, and you have a beautiful day, too.
This is awesome! The quotes are all beautiful. I especially love, “Life is meant to be lived as a celebration.” Wow! While it is clear that we must celebrate life, for me it takes me right back to the root and that is, ‘to give thanks in everything, even the smallest and the simplest of them all.’
Happy to connect with you. Great blog you have too. 🙂
Thank you, Yvonne! I love that one, too. When we are celebrating life, it’s like throwing huge thank-you party! And thank you for the kind words. I loved your blog this morning, too. I really enjoyed your post on the spiritual makeover. It’s nice to meet you and connect!
Stopping by from Sharefest and glad I did. Celebrating and gratitude…never thought of the connection that way but you are right!
So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for visiting! It’s wonderful to meet you!
It’s so easy to forget that we do have a wonderful life, and to get caught up in the every day problems. Thanks for sharing the worksheet to help remind us all that life is meant to be celebrated.
It really is, Heidi. We have to be intentional, ridiculously intentional with where we focus.
Love the Oprah quote & had to pin it. Ironically, I was watching Opera on Sunday and she had an entire day of Sunday Inspiration.
This is one of my favorite Oprah quotes. Zig Ziglar has a similar one that I also love. Thank you so much for pinning it, Jennifer!