Jaded

Today I am grateful for the close encounter and eye contact I had with a young squirrel yesterday. It was a cool connection with another living being, even if they are pesky at times. I am also grateful
for recovery connections I made yesterday.

Yesterday's itchy is followed by today's jaded. Defined as exhausted, tired, bored, typically after having had too much of something, it isn't one of the more pleasant emotions. It sure is real though, and sometimes it is absolutely how I feel and how I need to feel at that time.

If feelings are gifts, we need to tune in to both the pleasant and unpleasant. When jaded dominates, it is telling me to stop, rest, focus back on what has gone well. Sometimes it is my job that leaves me jaded. Sometimes it is fear and worry about the general state of the planet and the people on it, or the specific state of someone I care about.

There is a real advantage to having decades of life experience and decades of gratitude practice. They both help me see through the exhaustion, the hopelessness, the frustration, and wake up with new energy and renewed hope.

As I start a busy work week, I am focusing on the present and the many wonderful people I work with. There will be moments of feeling jaded no doubt, but perhaps the right focus will make those moments shorter.

Clouds will likely prevent a good view of today's eclipse in my part of the world, but grateful living can clear the jaded clouds out of my mind and heart.