This week, I just want to tell you a story.  I experienced lots of gratitude this week, and the result was a whole lot of feeling good!

I collected my mail one day this week to find an envelope sent from Japan.  I puzzled over it for a minute, trying to think who in the world would be sending me something from there.  I drew a blank.  I opened the envelope and pulled out a beautiful note folded around another envelope.  I read the note with utter astonishment, because it was the very last thing I imagined or expected.  It was a note from an anonymous blog reader expressing gratitude for a recent post I wrote: It’s Okay to not Be Okay.  Inside the envelope was a crisp one-hundred dollar bill.

My husband, who was opening his mail, heard my gasp of astonishment and read the note over my shoulder.  Then we just stared at each other for a moment.  It’s difficult to describe the emotion I felt in that moment – it was a mixture of gratitude, love, and joy.  Knowing that this anonymous reader was so moved by a post as to go to all that trouble was just – amazing!

It reminded me of the power of sharing our gratitude out loud.  There are so many ways to do this each day, and each time we do, we spread love and healing.  This blog reader was writing to thank me for helping her, and in doing so, helped me.  The love and joy I felt in that moment was powerful.  I could feel it washing through my body in waves.  I am grateful for her willingness to send that message to me.

I also realized, in that moment, that I’d like to share my gratitude out loud more often.  I felt the power of being on the receiving end, and I know how great it feels to be on the giving end.  It’s like a daily dose of the best free medicine out there!

This is today’s out-loud gratitude moment:

Week after week, I sit down at my computer and I write to you.  Usually I have one or two of you in mind as I write – a client I spoke to, a person who emailed with a question.  Sometimes I write to an imaginary mix of several people I’ve interacted with recently.  Sometimes I write to myself.  The thing I love about blogging is that it’s like writing a giant letter.  It feels like a love letter when I write it, because I am in love with writing to you, and I love all of you readers out there.  I feel a sense of community with you all and love connecting like this each week.  It’s our weekly healing – yours and mine – on many different levels.

It was healing for me to write the It’s Okay to not Be Okay post, and it was also slightly nerve-wracking.  It felt right, and it felt fun, but I was putting myself out there, nonetheless, as raw and real as it gets.  (Though as I write that, I’m laughing at myself. Hello!  I write a blog about vulvodynia, interstitial cystitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.)  To know that it served someone, many someone’s, in fact, was very helpful to me.  So, today, I just want to thank everyone who wrote a response to that post.  I heard from some of you on Facebook, others via email, several of you posted comments below, and then, there was the note from Japan.

Thank you all, so, so much.  I don’t usually think about getting a response back from you all when I sit down to write.  I am comfortable knowing that wherever you are, whoever you are, you’re reading this and receiving whatever you need most.  I know that not every post will resonate with you, and I know that you might not feel like writing a comment on a public blog about vaginas.  So I just write because I love to write.  I love to talk about being whole, being who we are really meant to be in this world – beautiful, loved, loving, healthy, joyful beings.

But I have to admit – hearing back from you is awfully fun.  It gives me a little energy boost to know you are enjoying reading as much as I am writing.   Today, I am full of gratitude, for all of you.  I am sharing it out loud, and that feels great.  Whoever you are, kind note-writer from Japan, thank you so much for helping me this week.