Only a Report?

Living gratefully today, I give thanks for the many things that keep my family and I safe and comfortable in the midst of a bitter cold spell, and also for the good music the 1970's and 1980's blessed us with.

Reading about the recent death of poet Mary Oliver, I came across these words of hers:

“Attention without feeling is only a report.”

Sometimes a report is all we need, all that is required of a situation. But life, lived to maximum contribution and optimal depth of awe, requires more. Full attention. Pause. Notice. Listen. Feel. Connect. Belong. Absorb. Embrace.

Feel it all. The joy and the pain, the faith and the uncertainty, the mundane and the powerful, receive them all with an open heart, mind, and soul. That is attention with feeling.

If "attention without feeling is only a report," then gratitude without feeling is only a gesture.

Attention is the key to tapping into true gratefulness, the essential action to living gratefully.

In a recent moment, I paused and listened to "The Weight" by The Band. I first felt the weight of my own expectations for myself and for this day ahead.  Then, I let the music lift the weight of the various things on my to-do list and help me just delve into the lyrics and sounds for a pause.

Simple, but not easy.  Today, I will take time to pause and fully attend to the moment I am in. It is there that the emotions reveal themselves and give our day meaning. Do more than report. Live.