Life is beautiful in the Sunshine State for at least 20 reasons...
In the dog days of August and the height of hurricane season, Florida may not seem like the easiest place to love. But that's where the golden concept of gratitude comes in: being ever thankful for the "little" things that are not really so little, the incredible miracles that cross our humble paths every day, many times without our attention.
Theologian and philosopher Albert Schweitzer famously said:
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with great gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
This flame can also be rekindled by a special place. For me, that place has been Florida since I moved here in a wintry whirlwind in December of 2016.
The following list of the 20 Best Things About Living in Florida was born of the gratitude I feel for my place here and the relighted flame in my heart.
- Soft pastel palette of the sunset framed by undulating palm trees
- Happy, free and healthy animals roaming across vivid green fields
- Water as clear as glass and warm as a soothing bath
- At dusk, the peach and passionfruit horizon
- The birds are so beautiful, exotic and free.
- Breathing on the beach is a meditation unto itself, one moment more powerful than an hour in silent contemplation in a closed room.
- Streets with names like Gulf Stream, Bird Key, Pineapple, and Mimosa! Oh, and let's not forget Banana Court!
- Key lime pie straight from the source
- Sunsets that look like giant tangerine flambes (I know, I can't stop raving about these ethereal sunsets!)
- Getting "caught" in the eternal summer Florida rain
- Salt water swimming pools
- Swimming laps in these pools in October...or any month of the year
- Wide open roads and spaces
- Knowing you're in the southernmost state of the continental United States
- Mystical pink clouds reflecting on a tranquil lake at sunrise
- Restaurants with names like the Blue Sunshine Patio
- Friendly, smiling people who are happy to live where they do
- Sipping peppermint hot chocolate a few days before Christmas while wearing a sundress
- Wind chimes on a breezy evening
- Those sunsets, those sunsets, oh those sunsets
Bonus Reason: Tropical flowers blooming everywhere, even in the middle of the street
Of course, you don't need to be in Florida or any particular place to feel deep gratitude. As
Louise Hay, author of the classic book of affirmations,
Heart Thoughts, wrote:
I experience love wherever I go...This gratitude radiates out from me in all directions, touching everything in my world, and returns to me as more to be grateful for. The more gratitude I feel, the more I am aware that the supply is endless.
We can see the broken pieces of seashells, or we can see the whole from which they originate and the generous sea that shared them with us...
