Few years ago, I was really struggling life.

I felt like I had everything I needed

but I just wasn’t happy.

I felt that life was a treadmill.

I felt lost.

I didn’t really like enjoy being it.

And then, I went in sorrow night.

Until I had some friend who has a full advice with me.

She said, Hailey, the secret to happiness is reflection and gratitude.

She said take time every day and think through your day.

Seize with anything that you can be genuinely grateful for.

So I did 10 days. I did this little project; write down thing.

And very quickly, I realized that there was an amazing thing I wouldn’t miss if I hadn’t been doing this.

Being a photographer, I decided to do a photographic project called “365 grateful”

and take a photo a day at something I was grateful for.

Every single day per year

And it changed my life in a way that I could never have expected.

The first thing I notice was my husband.

He’s a beautiful man and a great husband.

But he was just never very romantic

and I had kind of labelled him as that.

But then doing this project, I started to see things I otherwise would miss.

And there were some beautiful moments in things he was doing that I,

in the busyness of everyday, wouldn’t have even seen if I hadn’t been doing this 365 grateful project.

I took a photo one day of a piece of pie that he gave me.

We were sitting down for dinner and there were two pieces of pie left on the tray.

The first one was a little bit scanty and sliding a little.

And the other one had a great big crust with a corner piece and it was delicious and big!

And he without even thinking put the biggest and the best piece of pie on my plate.

And I was just astounded. I realized that every day,

he was choosing me and thinking me that made me see him for the first time.

And I was so grateful; at the end of this project, he actually said to me, “I feel like I’m enough for you now”.

And that was just incredibly beautiful for me.

Another thing I noticed was how connected I felt with nature.

I felt like there were beautiful beetles landing on my shirt,

and I see them and I think, “Wow! I’m honored you’re here!”

These little beautiful bits of nature that I otherwise would have been rushing pass, “Ahh, you’re cute”…

But doing this project pulled me right into the moment and seeing what was really good about my life.

And the beautiful things around me that every day were on display for me to see.

I felt like, “Wow! I should watch from where I’m stepping. I should honor the earth that I am on and be grateful to be here….

I’m so lucky to be alive and see this display every day.”

And that made me also connected to the universe,

in God or something bigger or more powerful than me.

Not only did this 365 grateful project helped me.

It spread through Flickr, Facebook, and magazines and blogs.

People are starting to do their own grateful projects.

And then their friends are doing their own grateful projects.

Very quickly, I started to get some amazing e-mails from people sharing their stories with their projects

and how it affected their lives.

If you’d like to be involved, to find out more information,

head over to our website at 365grateful.com

Thanks!