Gratitude for my simple life brings more joy than when I was "important"

Gratitude gives me a dopamine rush

FROM PREVENTION.COM: “Studies have linked living a thankful life to fewer aches and pains, better sleep, and more. “Making gratitude a daily practice is like taking a vitamin,” says David DeSteno, PhD, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University in Boston and author of the book Emotional Success. He’s not being hyperbolic: He means it’s like an actual vitamin, making your body work better. And the deep, long-lasting power of gratitude is blissfully simple to harness.”

Thanksgiving Eve

It’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2021 and I feel better than I have ever felt in my entire life. My childhood trauma has finally been healed. The postherpetic neuralgia that burned like a barbed wire blanket wrapped around my torso has dissipated. It has been over seventeen years since I have had a drink.

Thankful that I left Tujunga

One major source of gratitude comes from the fact that I moved out of my hometown of Tujunga in 2004. I am grateful that my backyard neighbors Art and Eyde Dimino created the catalyst for this transformative event to occur.

Grateful that my parents have passed on

To be brutally honest, I am supremely grateful that my parents have passed away. My mom and dad were not okay with me getting sober. My entire family was very disappointed to see me get well because it has become very difficult for them to point the finger at me. My mother had to pass in 2003 so that I could get sober and my dad had to pass in 2013 so that I could stay sober. My siblings stole my inheritance and the probate court gave it all back to me. The court even awarded me damages out of their share. Plus, they have to pay all of my attorney fees. Now my brother has a $200,000 money judgment lien filed against his $80,000 shack in Rough and Ready, California.

A Tujunga Peckerwood in L.A.

Roaming around downtown L.A. on a Sunday morning the free on-street parking brings tears of joy to my eyes. The emotion of gratitude creates joy in my heart and soul. I am beginning a new life in my beloved City of Angels. Which way do I go?