Another Favorite Revisited

Today I am grateful for the beauty of fresh snow on the trees and a car I feel safe driving in. I am also grateful for the reminders of the simple and profound reminders to live gratefully.

One such reminder is another of my favorite quotes about gratitude. This one is from Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Buddha. I have it in my memory and it comes around from time to time. It follows here:

"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little,

and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, 

at least we didn't die; so let us all be thankful."

So often, in my selfish way of thinking, I spend too much time ruminating on what is not going my way, on an unrealistic and growing list of expectations, on what I wish I had. That way of thinking crowds out what I DO have in this moment, in this day.

These are words I wrote in one of my earlier posts, as I reflected on this same quote:

"This is what I call keeping things in perspective. Successful gratitude practice for me means focusing on what I do have, not lamenting over what I don't have or what I had and lost. This quote captures that and more.

It reminds me of the gift of today. And of the importance of the little things in life that really aren't little things; feeling healthy, learning more, life itself. It reminds me how much better reasonable expectations are for me, versus those unreasonable, "never good enough" expectations that are stealers of sanity and serenity." 

Why rob ourselves of sanity and serenity? Why not strive to stay mindfully present, moment by moment?  Even a few moments of that in a day can help maintain some peace and ease for me and for you.