Habitual Gratitude

Today I am grateful for the fellow recovering alcoholics and addicts who enrich my daily journey. I appreciate the soothing sound of a clock ticking and my ears that are able to hear it.  I gave myself a couple of opportunities yesterday to practice the pace of presence. After some overnight tossing and turning, I got up earlier than usual so I could do some meditation in the hopes that I would fall back to sleep for at least a little longer. It worked and I woke up more refreshed than my sleep hours would indicate.  I also woke up with a slower mind and went into the next part of my morning routine, some strength and core exercises, with my brain not flying from one thought to another and tension not building. The pace of presence is a kinder, gentler pace for me, for all of us.  We live in a world that seems to run counter to this idea though. It is causing significant harm to our overall health, and we often don't even pause to consider it. The children and young peopl...

A late November rainbow is a random and fairly rare event. I captured the photo above, and the two below, yesterday afternoon as I stepped out of PIVO Brewery and Blepta Studios in Calmar, Iowa. It was November 27, 2021 at 12:37 p.m. CST. That's my shadow in the bottom center of the photo.   I wasn't expecting a rainbow. There were just a few sprinkles, and as you can see, there was plenty of blue sky too. I took it in and felt it worthy of some photos. I sometimes get caught up in the photos and miss the experience. I tried to capture both yesterday. Others stepped out and exclaimed their surprise as well.  Within minutes, the rainbow was gone. A little while later, I hit the road to head home again. It has been a gratifying and full week of time spent with loved ones and plenty of road miles. Sometimes it all feels so fleeting, like this rainbow.  Today I carry this thought with me: Life is precious and fragile. Let's treat it, ourselves, and others, with gentle co...

Today I am grateful for safe road intersections, thanks to traffic signs and lights.  I also appreciate on so many levels the lives that have intersected with mine over the course of my life so far. For a reason, a season, or a lifetime, they each matter in the story of my life.  I was thinking about intersections as I took this picture yesterday morning. It is in downtown Hastings, after I had participated in the annual Gobble Gait 8K that was able to be held in person again this year.  These snowplows protected us from the potential of the horror and tragedy that played out in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Sunday. I appreciated that precautions were being taken, and was also deeply saddened that these are the times in which we find ourselves and our communities. My heart goes out to all the victims, families, witnesses, emergency personnel, and others involved.  This intersection was safely blocked, but the runners and walkers who came together, in an intersection of holi...

I n daily life we must see that it is gratefulness that makes us happy,  not happiness that makes us grateful.  Brother David Steindl-Rast  This quote is in the header for this blog, and captures well what I believe to be true. I came across it years ago and have let it guide me ever since. Happiness, once an elusive pursuit, is now more a byproduct of the grateful living practices to which I am committed.  This blog is now over 9 1/2 years strong. I am a more contented writer because I regularly give time to my heart and soul's passion, rather than waiting until everything else is done first. (That never happens!)  And this mug is one I often use for my morning coffee. It reminds me of my sisters because several of us were together when I bought it out in Colorado, including my sister Mary Jo. She died in 2019. When healthy, she would have been up early today preparing a feast to share with others.  I pause and notice the abundance I am surrounded by more ...

There’s a self expansive aspect of gratitude. Very possibly it’s a little known law of nature:  the more gratitude you have, the more you have to be grateful for.    Elaine St. James Laws of nature like gravity and electromagnetism are all around us. From keeping Earth in orbit around the sun or bringing a softball off the bat to some spot in the outfield, to helping tape stick to a package or a magnet to stick to the refrigerator; we experience these irrefutable laws in our daily lives. They are powers greater than human, though humans have learned how to utilize them to our advantage.  Elaine St. James is an author and lecturer well-known for her writings and talks about living a simpler life. Too much stuff, demands on our time, and distractions from our priorities leave many people unhappy and anxious, at least to some degree.  Simplify your life. Amen to that! I start with simplifying my overactive and counterproductive thoughts. It is a daily effort for me...

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I am grateful today for safe travels and time with my friend Sheila and her family yesterday for her father's funeral. Rest in peace Earl. I am deeply grateful for the lasting and deep friendship that Sheila and I share, and for the peace that I know in my life and the new ways I am learning to tap into it. The above quote is telling me it takes peace to find peace. Initially that sounds counterintuitive, but then again I can't fully share something with others until I understand and possess it myself. Seeking personal peace --through meditation, recovery, therapy, forgiveness, healing, writing, running--has helped and continues to help me know more calm and clarity.  With a healthier sense of self, I spend less time spun up in my head and in self-centered pursuits. That allows me more time and energy to bring to the people and circumstances in each d...

Today I am grateful for the smooth, smoother than usual, cup of coffee I am enjoying right now. Is the coffee better today, or am I just paying more attention to my senses in the present moment?  It doesn't matter. I am just savoring it. That moment is gone. The next has arrived, and the next. If we look at life this way, life is a series of losses. Maybe if we looked at loss differently we could see how inextricably it is woven into every aspect of life, and maybe we could embrace it in new ways.  I am not saying that we should go looking for loss, rather that it finds us at every turn. It can't be avoided. Neither can the gift of the next moment. Until we draw our final breath anyway. The person I was five minutes ago, five years ago, five decades ago is gone. But there's a new me in this particular moment and that is pretty amazing. Life is about loss. Big ones. Small ones. Noticed and unnoticed ones. Loss is on my mind the last few days for several reasons. My dear frie...