Month of Gratitude!

It's November! As I sat in my office trying to focus myself on my thesis, my office-mate Carrie reminded me of a great tradition: writing down one thing I'm grateful for every day this month. I decided it's a great way to get into the holiday spirit and remember all my blessings.

Let's be real honest, it might not happen everyday, but I'm going to try to at least write some thoughts once a week.

Today, November 1st, I am grateful for CREATIVITY. There are so many things in the world that we would miss out on if it weren't for creativity. Yesterday, being Halloween, provided the opportunity for me to see some of the creativity of those around me. From costumes to pumpkin carvings, I found how creative people can be.

Back to my darling office-mate, Carrie, she's the queen of creativity. She is always looking for new and better ways to do things and to make them more fun. I'm so grateful for her fun influence in my life. For Halloween she dressed up as Barbie and even created a Barbie box and a Ken box and held Ken Auditions. She encouraged me to make a more creative costume, so I pulled something easy but creative together (see below)

After the fun of being a little creative, I started pondering on the creativity of others. Yesterday was the 500 year anniversary of the completion of the Sistine Chapel. What an amazing display of creativity and talent!! So many beautiful (and practical!) things come from creativity. The music that moves me and changes my mood on a dime comes from the creativity of others. So if you have some deep gift for creativity, don't suppress it! Don't let it fall to the side while you focus on the "practical" side of life. Think! Dream! Create!

If you need more inspiration, see below:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/happiness-your-heritage?lang=eng&query=uchtdorf+%22the+desire+to+create+is+one+of+the+deepest%22